| schema:text
| - Fact Check: No, Rahul Gandhi didn't say 'I want power, not truth', viral video was clipped out of context
A video clip featuring Rahul Gandhi has been widely shared online. During a rally, the Congress leader was heard saying, "I want power. I don't care about the truth. The truth can go to hell. I just want the seat." AFWA's investigation found that in the original video, Gandhi was referring to Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, not himself.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
The original video is from Congress 'Mehngai Hatao Maha Rally', which was organised in Rajasthan's Jaipur on December 13, 2021. Here, Gandhi was not talking about himself, rather he was targeting BJP leaders.
On September 7, 2022, Rahul Gandhi started the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. Having moved through six states, the Yatra is right now in Maharashtra as neighbouring Gujarat is in full election mode.
A 15-second-long video clip featuring Gandhi has been widely shared online, amid all this. During a rally, the Congress leader is saying, "I want power. I don’t care about the truth. The truth can go to hell. I just want the seat."
Many shared the clip, with captions in Hindi like: "Rahul Ji only wants power. He doesn’t care about the truth". The archived version of such a post can be seen here.
AFWA's investigation found that in the original video, Gandhi was referring to Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, not himself.
AFWA Probe
A reverse search of keyframes from the viral clip led us to a video that was uploaded to the YouTube channel of The Indian Express, titled "Rahul Gandhi Slams BJP: 'I Am a Hindu, Not Hindutvawadi". It was from the Congress party’s “Mehangai Hatao Maha Rally”, organised in Rajasthan's Jaipur on December 13, 2021. We also found a much longer version of the same video on the Congress's official YouTube channel. The video was titled, "Shri Rahul Gandhi addresses the 'Mehangai Hatao Maha Rally' in Jaipur, Rajasthan".
In the latter video, between the 11.28- and 12-minute-marks, Gandhi can be heard saying in Hindi, "Hindutwavadis want power at any cost. Just like Mahatma Gandhi once said, 'I want the truth. I look for the truth. I don’t want power', the same way, they (the BJP) say, ‘I want power. I don’t care about the truth. The truth can go to hell. I just want the seat’.”
The rally and Gandhi’s speech were widely reported by news outlets. According to The Hindu aside from Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kamal Nath, Sachin Pilot, Ajay Maken, Adhir Ranjan Chowhdhury, among others, attended the rally.
Thus, it is clear that in the viral clip, Gandhi was not talking about himself, rather he was targeting Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)