Did Rahul Gandhi Refer to Population in Rupees During Bharat Jodo Yatra?

Several BJP leaders, including Sambit Patra and Amit Malviya, shared a clipped video to make the misleading claim.

A short clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaking about population and money is being shared on social media, where he is heard referring to India's population as "140 crore rupees."

Who is sharing this video?: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra shared the video on his verified account, along with BJP Darbhanga MLA Murari Mohan Jha.

(Note: Swipe right to view both claims.)

(Archives of more verified accounts sharing this claim on social media can be seen here and here.)

But?: The video is clipped and misleading. In the video of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana's Panipat, Gandhi spoke about unequal wealth distribution in the country.

Although Gandhi initially referred to India's population in rupees, he immediately corrected his slip-up and said, "140 crore people."

How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for more information about the video.

• The search led us to a report by Hindustan Times that carried a headline which was similar to Gandhi's statement.

• The report mentioned that Gandhi had spoken about unequal wealth distribution in the country while targeting the Centre at Panipat in Haryana at a public meeting during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Taking a cue from this, we looked for a longer version of the video on Congress' verified YouTube channel and found a video of Gandhi's speech in Panipat.

What did Gandhi say?: We went through the video in which Gandhi spoke about receiving a warm welcome from the people in Panipat, thanking them for supporting the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He went on to discuss unequal wealth distribution in the country.

• Targeting the Centre, he raised questions on unequal wealth distribution in the country.

• At the 01:45 minute mark into the live stream, we came across the portion of this video used in the claim.

Here, we heard Gandhi saying, "Let me talk about the economy of the country a little. India's population is 140 crore rupees," but he immediately corrected his slip-up and went on to say, "140 crore people, right? Remember the first number, 140 crores. Listen carefully; remember a second number, 100."

• After this, he said the wealth half of India's population possessed was equal to the wealth in the hands of the 100 richest people in India.

• Gandhi then critiqued the Centre's Agniveer scheme, saying that it would rob the youth of their opportunity of protecting the country, as the scheme would retain 25 percent of those selected under it and leave the rest unemployed.

Conclusion: While Gandhi initially referred to the population in rupees, he immediately corrected himself and said "140 crore people" while speaking at a public meet during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Haryana's Panipat.

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