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| - Fact Check: Rahul Gandhi DID NOT call Udaipur murderers 'children', video goes viral with false context
A video went viral with a false claim that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi called Udaipur murder accused children. Here's what we found.
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India Today Fact Check
The video has been clipped and shared out of context. Rahul Gandhi was talking about the recent attacks on his Wayanad office allegedly by SFI members. Rahul called them 'kids' and said they should be forgiven.
The situation in Rajasthan remains tense days after the Udaipur murder that shook the entire nation. Meanwhile, a video of the former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has gone viral on social media. Several netizens shared the clip with the claim that Rahul called Udaipur murderers 'children' during a recent interaction with the media.
The video shows Rahul Gandhi talking about the atmosphere of anger and hatred in the country.
In the video, the former Congress chief said, "The children who did this. They are also children. It is not a good thing to do, but they have acted irresponsibly. I don't have any anger or hostility towards them, they have done a silly thing, so we should leave it at that."
He further added, "They are kids, I don't think they understand the consequences of these types of things. So we are forgiving as far as they are concerned."
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- pic.twitter.com/WjdmBgoYuz — B S Dhingra (@BSDhingra1) July 2, 2022
Some users have posted captions in Hindi quoting Rahul Gandhi that read, "The accused who killed Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur are children and innocent. They have done stupidity. I have no anger towards them, they should be forgiven."
Archived versions of some similar posts can be seen here and here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim is misleading. In the video, Rahul Gandhi wasn't talking about the Udaipur murder. By children, he meant the members of the students' outfit SFI who allegedly attacked his office in Kerala a few days back.
AFWA Probe
There were no immediate reports to support the claim. Since the video had a logo of Zee News channel on the right, we searched on Google News for the statement Rahul is heard saying. This took us to a NewsNine report published on July 1, 2022. The headline mentioned that Rahul termed the recent SFI attack on his office as a 'silly act of children'.
Subsequent searches led us to a report in The Indian Express published on the same day confirming that Rahul Gandhi used the said words to describe the SFI activists' action that led to the alleged vandalism of his Wayanad office.
The SFI is the student wing of the CPI(M), which is ruling Kerala.
A YouTube video by News18 Kerala covered Rahul Gandhi's interaction with the media in detail. Around the one minute mark, a journalist can be heard asking Rahul about the attacks on his office.
"Before my office, it is the office of the people of Wayanad. So, it is quite an unfortunate thing that has been done. Everywhere in the country, you see the idea that violence will resolve problems. However, the children who did this...," Rahul is heard responding before making the statements that have gone viral now.
This confirmed the context of Rahul Gandhi's statement. The Congress leader didn't use the words in the viral video to describe the heinous crime that happened in Udaipur.
In this same video, Rahul Gandhi also opened up on the Supreme Court's observation against the former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. On June 28, the Congress MP called for strict punishment of the murderers of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur.
, — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 28, 2022
An Economic Times report has noted that 19 SFI activists were held after the attacks made on Rahul Gandhi's office in Wayanad.
Therefore, it is clear that the video of Rahul Gandhi has been clipped without the original context and was shared with a false claim.
(With inputs from Yash Mittal, New Delhi)
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