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| - Fact Check: TV debate clip falsely shared as Congress spokesperson hailing PM Modi
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be untrue. The person in the video is not a Congress spokesperson but the head of a news channel.
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India Today Fact Check
The person in the video is not a Congress spokesperson. He is Jagdeesh Chandra, the head of Rajasthan-based news channel “First India News”. The clip is part of a longer debate on the Kashi-Vishwanath corridor inauguration.
The inauguration of the Kashi-Vishwanath corridor by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is still the talk of the town even after a week. Social media can’t have enough of it, especially with elections in Uttar Pradesh round the corner.
PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi have been spearheading the campaigns for their respective parties in UP, thus, promising a high-voltage contest. But did a Congress spokesperson himself hail PM Modi as a “hero” and accept that it is “very difficult” for Rahul to compete with him, especially after the inauguration?
That’s exactly what some social media users are claiming, while sharing a clip from a TV discussion.
In the viral video, the anchor is heard asking if Rahul Gandhi can match up to the buzz and intensity created over the inauguration. To this, the person who has been termed a Congress spokesperson said, “It’s going be very difficult for anyone, be it Rahul Gandhi or someone else. Narendra Modi is a hero.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be untrue. The person in the video is not a Congress spokesperson but the head of a news channel. He was sharing his observations in the show after the inaugural ceremony of the Kashi-Viswanath corridor.
The archived versions of similar claims can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA PROBE
As the channel logo was not clearly visible in the viral video, we tried to find the identity of the man said to be a Congress spokesperson. We took a few screenshots of the man and reverse-searched those on Google.
The results led us to a different video of him speaking on the book controversy of Congress leader Salman Khurshid. Though his name or designation was not mentioned in this short clip, the channel logo was clear enough to understand that it was “First India News”.
We then used some keywords to search for the original video from which the viral clip has been extracted. We found that the original video was posted on December 14 and the viral part has been snipped from 55.37 seconds. At the beginning of this video, the anchor can be heard introducing him as Jagdeesh Chandra, the channel head.
We found another video tweet by this channel where it was written that Jagdeesh Chandra is their channel head.
We then Googled his name for more information and came across an article in “Tycoon Magazine” published in July 2021. The article said Chandra is the CMD of “First India News” and Editor of “First India”. It also said that Chandra has been one of the top bureaucrats in Rajasthan, several many key positions.
Therefore, it becomes clear that the man in the viral video is not a Congress spokesperson but the head of a Rajasthan-based news channel.
(Inputs from Riddhish Dutta in Kolkata)
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