Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘insensitive’ attempt to shake hands with a differently abled person
Fact
A clipped video of Rahul Gandhi’s public address in Wayanad shared with misleading claim
A video has recently gone viral with the claim that senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi offered to shake hands with a differently abled person on stage, evoking reactions of amusement across social media. Several verified handles shared the nine-second video clip, mocking Gandhi for his “insensitivity”.
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Fact check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this Youtube live stream of Rahul Gandhi’s speech in his former constituency, Wayanad, dated April 11, 2023, uploaded by his official channel. For the first time since his disqualification as an MP from the Lok Sabha, Gandhi had on April 11 visited Wayanad in Kerala, where he addressed a Congress-led UDF rally at Kalpetta town, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other leaders.
At the 1:07:42 mark, we can see the differently abled man being wheeled onto the stage, who raised his right arm to greet Gandhi in a heartfelt moment. It can be clearly seen that it was the man who initiated the greeting with Gandhi, and that the whole interaction was devoid of any “insensitivity” as claimed in the viral posts.
The Kerala Pradesh Congress Sevadal’s Twitter handle, too, shared pictures of the moment between the two.
Conclusion
A video of a differently abled person’s greeting with Rahul Gandhi was shared with a misleading claim that the senior Congress leader was “insensitive” to attempt a handshake.
Result: False
Sources
Youtube video, Rahul Gandhi, April 11, 2023
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
