Viral Video of Anurag Thakur 'Questioning' Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha Is Edited

Rahul Gandhi was not seated inside the parliament during this part of Anurag Thakur's speech.

Fact-Check: This clip is edited. Such an incident did not occur in the parliament.

(Source: The Quint) 

A video, purportedly from the ongoing Parliament session, is being circulated to claim that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was left speechless after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) from Himachal Pradesh, Anurag Thakur, questioned the former on the Indian constitution.

• In this video, clips of Gandhi can be seen either standing silent or gesturing towards the speaker.

What did Thakur say?: "How many pages are there in the constitution? How many? Don't show it through gestures. How many pages are there? You roam around with it every day, sometimes open and read it. You don't read it but keep waving it. You do 'Constitution, Constitution, Constitution' so much..."

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

This post gathered 34.6K views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: The video is edited.

• Gandhi was not present in the parliament during Thakur's speech, according to Sansad TV visuals.

• Also seen in the Sansad TV footage was a visual of the opposition walking out of the parliament at the beginning of Thakur's speech.

How did we find out?: Team WebQoof went through Thakur's speech and identified the portions highlighted in the viral video.

• 56:33 minutes onwards, Thakur says, "I want to ask you all something. How many pages are there in the constitution?"

• Then, the MP said, "Don't show it in the air with a hand gesture. How many pages are there? You roam around with it every day, sometimes open and read it." The same is heard in the viral video.

• Following this part, the Sansad TV camera panned towards the opposition's side in which Gandhi is not seen in his usual seat. The timestamp for the same is 56:48 minutes.

This is the frame which is visible at 56:38 minutes. Rahul Gandhi is not visible in this frame. 

(Source: Sansad TV/Screenshot) 

• When Thakur says, "Tell me, how many pages are there in the constitution? You do 'Constitution, Constitution, Constitution' so much" around 57:10 minutes, the Sansad TV camera points towards Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee.

• The timestamp for the same is 57:12 minutes.

Here is the frame at 57:12 minutes which shows Banerjee in an argument with Thakur. 

(Source: Sansad TV/Screenshot) 

• News Agency ANI published a video about the exchange between Thakur and Banerjee in the parliament as well.

• Thakur's speech bits in the viral video are present in this ANI report too.

Incidentally, at 0:28 seconds of Thakur's speech, there is a small portion where Gandhi rises to speak and says, "After the President's address, we should give a day for discussion over NEET." After this, the Speaker answers back to Gandhi and states that he should submit a notice for the same.

This is the frame where Rahul Gandhi demanded a day's discussion over NEET. 

(Source: Sansad TV/Screenshot) 

Following this exchange, Thakur continued with his speech and at 3:16 minutes, the entire opposition can be seen staging a walkout.

Here is the visual of the opposition staging a walk out. 

(Source: Sansad TV/Screenshot) 

Visuals of Rahul Gandhi in the viral video: Visuals of Gandhi in the viral video are from his own speech.

• At 19:02 minutes of Rahul Gandhi's speech, the same frame as the viral video is visible.

Here is a comparison between the two frames. 

(Source: Sansad TV/Screenshot) 

• At 19:07 minutes of Gandhi's speech from the Sansad TV video, the other frame of him in the viral video is visible.

Here is a comparison between the two frames. 

(Source: Sansad TV/Screenshot) 

Conclusion: The viral video is edited and falsely claims that Thakur's speech left Gandhi speechless in the parliament.

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