Did Rahul Kanwal Call Vande Mataram ‘Anti National’? Fake Alert

A clip showing Rahul Kanwal saying, “Chanting Vande Mataram is an anti-national activity,” is viral on social media.

A clip showing Rahul Kanwal saying, “Chanting Vande Mataram is an anti-national activity” is doing the rounds on social media.

(Photo: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

Following India Today’s investigative report revealing ABVP links behind the JNU violence, massive amount of misinformation has been shared in an attempt to discredit the channel’s reportage.

CLAIM

In one such case, a clip showing India Today News Director and journalist Rahul Kanwal saying, “Chanting Vande Mataram is an anti-national activity,” is doing the rounds on social media.

In the clip, Kanwal can be heard saying, “The right and the wrong must be argued inside a court. Argue with Prashant Bhushan in the court. Why were you sloganeering? Why were you engaging in anti-national and anti-legal activity? I say, you were involved in anti-national activity. You were raising Vande Mataram slogans, that is an anti-national activity.”

The clip was shared by multiple journalists and BJP functionaries.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.

A Twitter poll asking if Rahul Kanwal should be punished for Vande Mataram is ‘anti-national’ jibe resulted in 94.8% people wanting him to be sacked and punished. (Source: Twitter)

TRUE OR FALSE

False.

The video in circulation is a clipped version of a longer statement made by Rahul Kanwal and is being used to spread a false claim.

WHAT WE FOUND

Kanwal took to Twitter himself to share the entire clip with the right context. In his clarification, Kanwal said the statement was made on air in an episode where he was confronting the lawyers who bashed up Kanhaiya Kumar in court while the cops watched. The lawyers who attacked Kanhaiya were chanting Vande Mataram.

“To attack someone and chant Vande Mataram is anti-national. Said it then, will say it now. Jai Hind,” Kanwal mentioned in his tweet.

By running a search using the keywords ‘India Today lawyers Kanhaiya Kumar court’, we located full video of the original show by Kanwal.

“Lawyers thrash Kanhaiya in court as police watched in silence”, read the title of the video.

In February 2016, the then JNU student union president and a few journalists were attacked by lawyers in the court complex of Patiala House Court.

This happened after Kanhaiya was produced in the court in connection with sedition charges.

RIGHT WING SHARES CLIP WITH FALSE NARRATIVE

Many right wing Twitter users took to the platform to share the clipped video aggressively.

An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.

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