Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
A 4 second clip from a press conference of Rahul Gandhi saying “We are fighting against the entire infrastructure of India” is going viral on social media, calling Rahul Gandhi’s statement ‘deeply dangerous’. Newschecker found this video to be cropped and shared out of context.
The video has been shared on Twitter by Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP IT Cell which has garnered 957 likes and 284 retweets on the platform.
Newschecker found similar claims on Facebook with different captions.
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Fact Check /Verification
We started our investigation by conducting a reverse search image on the key-frames of the viral video to ascertain its authenticity and found a longer version of the video on the official Youtube channel of Rahul Gandhi uploaded on 5th August, 2022. The video is from a press conference held at the Congress Headquarters on 5th August, 2022.
Eleven minutes into the video, we spot the portion that has since gone viral on social media. Rahul Gandhi is heard saying, “Today every institution of India is not independent. Today every institution of India is under the control of the RSS, every RSS person is appointed in an institution. So we are not fighting with a political party, we are fighting against the whole infrastructure of India”.
“When our government was there the infrastructure was neutral,” he added.
Upon conducting a keyword search with the words “Rahul Gandhi”, “press conference”, “RSS”, Newschecker found an article by the Indian Express titled ‘Every institution in India under BJP-RSS control, says Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’. The article was published on 5th August, 2022.
According to the article, Rahul Gandhi, a senior member of the Congress, declared that “all the institutions of India are under the influence of the BJP and the RSS”. The comment came days after opposition parties referred to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the PMLA case as a “dangerous verdict.”
The article further quotes Rahul on the Opposition’s inability to exert pressure on the government on key issues like price rise, who says, “The country’s legal structure… the judicial structure, the country’s electoral structure, the media, the Opposition stand up on their strength. All those institutions are supporting the government today because the government has filled up these institutions with their people. No institution in India is independent today. Every institution in India is today controlled by the RSS… So we are not fighting against a political party… We are fighting against India’s entire infrastructure…,” he said.”
Conclusion
Newschecker’s investigation reveals that the viral 4 second clip from a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi in which he is heard saying “We are fighting against the entire infrastructure of India” has been cropped and shared out of context.
Result: Missing Context
Our Sources
Youtube video by official Rahul Gandhi channel on 5th August, 2022.
Indian Express report, Every institution in India under BJP-RSS control, says Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, 5th August, 2022
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
