Ashok Gehlot, CM Raje Did Not Say ‘Jats Cannot be CM of Rajasthan’

The photos have been viral since September, and seem to be making a comeback owing to the upcoming elections.

CLAIM

A set of images are viral on social media claiming Congress leader Ashok Gehlot and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje have decried the Jat population in the state.

The viral photos are of quotes ascribed to Gehlot and Raje, aired by the channels ‘Times Now’ and ‘India News Haryana’.

The quotes read: "जब तक कांग्रेस में मैं हूं तब तक जाटों को सीएम नहीं बनने दूंगा (As long as I am in Congress I will not let Jats become the CM), जाटों को कुएं में डालकर ही अंतिम सांस लूंगा (I will take my last breath only after I finish all the Jats)" and ''कांग्रेस को जाटों के समर्थन की ज़रूरत नहीं है (Congress does not need Jats).”

Similar quotes have been attributed to CM Vasundhara Raje as well, replacing Congress with BJP.

The photos have been viral since at least September, and seem to be making a comeback owing to the upcoming elections in the state.

TRUE OR FALSE?

The photos are fake, and have clearly been photoshopped.

‘IMAGES HAVE BEEN PHOTOSHOPPED’

This is particularly clear in the photo claiming that Vasundhara Raje said “BJP does not require the support of Jats, and they can never be CM” – where the extra lines have been added in a very shoddy manner.

The Quint reached out to Ajay Shukla, the chief editor of iTV Network, which runs India News Haryana.

He said:

“These photos are fake, they have been photoshopped to this effect. We never ran any show of this sort, were the leaders have been said to have made such claims.”

Further, both Gehlot and Raje have not made any statement of the sort.

The photos appear to have been circulated on social media by supporters of Hanuman Beniwal, an independent MLA who was formerly a part of the BJP.

The photos have particularly been shared in the page 'राष्ट्रीय लोकतांत्रिक पार्टी’ and groups like 'अगला मुख्यमंत्री हनुमान बेनीवाल ग्रुप 6लाख पहुंचाना100 भाइयों को जोड़ें’ and 'टीम हनुमान बेनीवाल झुंझुनूं.’

Beniwal was suspended from BJP in 2014 after he accused Raje and other leaders of corruption. A dominant Jat lobbyist in the region, he floated the Rashtriya Loktantra Party (RLP) earlier this year.

(This article has been written in collaboration with Ekta News Coalition.)

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