Fact-Check: Clipped Videos of Rahul Gandhi Shared With Misleading Context

A compilation of two videos showing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi delivering a speech is going viral on the internet.

In the first video, Gandhi says, "Thali bajao, thali bajao, thali bajao… Mobile phone ki light on karo, light on karo."

[Translation: Bang the plate, bang the plate, bang the plate… turn on the light of the mobile phone, turn on the light.]

In the second video, he says, "Remote control is pressed from behind."

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: These videos are clipped and are being shared out of context.

• The first video shows Gandhi taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's approach to the COVID-19 outbreak.

• The second video shows him remarking that the media is controlled by the industrialists in India.

How did we find out the truth?:

VIDEO 1: We performed a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video which led us to the original video on YouTube from 16 November 2023.

• The video was shared by the official YouTube channel of Congress party and it showed Gandhi delivering a speech in Rajasthan.

• At 5:38 timestamp, he says, "Millions of people suffered from COVID. What did the Congress party do? Bhilwara model. We provided food packets at home. Youth Congress worked hard and delivered oxygen cylinders and medicines to homes. What did Narendra Modi say? ‘Thali bajao, thali bajao, thali bajao… Mobile phone ki light on karo, light on karo.’ What does it mean? Does this make sense?”.

• Clearly, he was taking a jibe at PM Modi's approach to curb the widespread of COVID-19 outbreak.

VIDEO 2: We performed a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video which led us to the original video on YouTube from 30 September 2023.

• The video, too, was shared by the official YouTube channel on Congress party and it showed Gandhi delivering a speech in Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh.

• At 41:19 timestamp, he says, "I spoke about media, I jokingly said that they won't show our meeting, (they will show) Modi's face for 24 hours, Shivraj's face for 24 hours, why so? Because the remote control controlling them (media) is within Adani's hands. See now the media persons are smiling, it's not their fault, they know the truth, the remote control is pressed from behind and controlled."

Conclusion: Clearly, these videos of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi are clipped and are being shared out of context.

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