Did Rahul Gandhi Call Hindus 'Violent'? No, His Attack Was Against BJP, RSS

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 11-second-long clip from Rahul Gandhi's speech was misleading.

Fact-Check | The video has been edited to make it appear like Rahul Gandhi is targeting the entire Hindu community.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha (LoP) and Congress' Rahul Gandhi is being shared on the internet to claim that it shows him targeting the entire Hindu community.

What did he say?: In the 11-second-long clip, Gandhi could be heard saying in Hindi, "Those who call themselves Hindu keep talking about violence, hate, and falsehood 24 hours a day."

Who shared it?: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared the video with a caption that said, "Sheer audacity of LoP ⁦@RahulGandhi to call everyone who calls himself Hindu as “hinsak”/violent shows ⁦@INCIndia⁩’s hatred and contempt towards Hindus. Also consistent with Hindu hate of his INDI Alliance partners. Hypocrisy in claiming “Mohabbat ki Dukaan” exposed."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

The post had garnered significant viewership of over six lakh views on the platform. Another archive of a similar claim can be heard here.

What is the truth?: The video is clipped. A longer version showed Gandhi targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with his statements.

How did we find out?: We found the full version of Gandhi's speech uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Sansad TV.

• It was published on 1 July and it was titled, "Rahul Gandhi's Remarks | Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in #18thloksabha."

• Gandhi was seen critcising the BJP government and alleged that it systematically targeted the constitution for the past 10 years.

• He then spoke about an image of Lord Shiva and how he (along with opposition) learnt the idea of confronting fears and non-violence.

• Gandhi then talked about the Abhayamudra and said that the next step of the idea of the evolution is to make others not scared, help others become fearless, and to help others become non-violent.

• Gandhi further said that all our religions talk about courage. He added that Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, and Jainism talk about being fearless and promote Abhayamudra.

At around the 18:37 timestamp, Gandhi said, "Lord Shiva says don't get afraid and don't scare others, shows Abhayamudra, talk about non-violence and buries his Trishool (trident) in the ground. Those who call themselves Hindus, they keep talking about violence, hate, and lies 24 hours a day. You are not Hindus. In Hinduism, it is clearly written that you should stand by the truth and not to back down from it. Not to get scared by truth and that non-violence is our symbol."

Following this Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioned Gandhi's statements and said that he should not target the entire community. PM Modi said, "This is a very serious issue. To call the entire Hindu community violent is a very serious issue."

To which Gandhi replied by saying, "BJP ko (to BJP), aapko (you). No, no, no, Narendra Modi ji is not the entire Hindu community. BJP and RSS are not the entire community."

The Quint also published the section of the rebuttal between PM Modi and Gandhi on its YouTube channel. You can watch the same below.

Conclusion: It is clear that the section where Gandhi attacks PM Modi, BJP, and RSS has been removed to make the video misleading.

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