Did Rajnath Singh Criticise the BJP? No, the Video Is Altered

Singh is actually criticising the Congress, Samajwadi Party, and BSP in the original video.

Fact-check: The original video is from 2013 and this is an edited version of it. 

(Source: The Quint)

A video of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is going viral on social media with a claim that he said that the party "won't sustain for too long as its leaders are unfaithful."

In the video, Singh points out that Pakistan and China are trying to challenge India and that's why the prime minister should involve the Indian Army a lot more.

He can be heard saying, "The government is misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and problems with roads, electricity, and water are getting serious. The youth is not getting the employment that they deserve. Within a span of one and a half years, more than a hundred incidents of communal tension and communal riots have happened in Uttar Pradesh."

However, this is an altered video. The original video dates back to 2013 and shows Singh holding the Congress party responsible for these problems while blaming the then ruling Samajwadi Party for Uttar Pradesh-specific issues.

CLAIM

The video is being shared to take a dig at the BJP and its leader.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/ screenshot)

Similar posts can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We divided the video into multiple keyframes and ran a reverse image search on them on a Russian search engine, Yandex.

This led us to a YouTube video uploaded by the BJP's official channel on 19 October 2013.

The viral part can be seen in this video from the 8:31 timestamp.

The video shows Singh's speech, which he had given at the Vijay Sankhnaad Rally at Buddha Park, Kanpur, in 2013.

In the original video, Singh can be seen blaming the Congress party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Samajwadi party.

Singh says in Hindi, "I want to tell this to our Prime Minister: today, Pakistan is challenging us and China's army is also entering Ladakh's area to agitate Indians. Prime Minister, please don't tie the hands of our soldiers anymore."

He then goes on to accuse the Congress of misusing the CBI and says, "The Congress government is misusing the CBI. The Samajwadi Party and the BSP are destroying Uttar Pradesh. Some ages ago, Kanpur was known as the Manchester of Northern India, but today, all the businesses in Kanpur are shut down, including clothes, laser, masala, and hosiery."

He also discussed the issue of unemployment, along with the poor condition of roads, electricity, and water, while blaming the SP and BSP.

At around 10 minutes and 41 seconds, he says, "For one and a half years, Samajwadi Party is governing Uttar Pradesh, and in that one and a half years, more than a hundred incidents of communal tension and communal riots have happened in Uttar Pradesh."

Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017, and Singh made this remark in 2013 over Yadav's governance.

Clearly, the part where Singh blames the Congress party, Samajwadi Party, and BSP is cropped out from the viral video to make it look like he is criticising his own party.

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