A video of the Minister of Transport and Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari, is being circulated on the internet with a claim that says he might soon quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In this viral video, the Union Minister can be heard saying that he does not care if he loses his position and is ready for whatever happens next. He further states that he is not a political professional and is a simple man who has led a humble life.
The claim comes amidst the BJP Parliamentary Board rejig, which saw the removal of senior BJP leaders like Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The decision drew a lot of attention nationwide especially considering that Gadkari was a former president of the national party.
However, the video is being shared out of context. In the longer video, Gadkari, who was speaking at the launch of a book, can be heard speaking about an older incident that happened in the 1995.
CLAIM
The claim was shared by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Sanjay Singh, with a caption that read, "आख़िर ऐसा क्यों बोले नितिन गडकरी जी? BJP बहुत बड़ी गड़बड़ चल रही है।" [Translation: Why did Nitin Gadkari ji say this after all? There is something going wrong with the BJP.]
The video shared by the Rajya Sabha MP had garnered over 69,000 views at the time of writing this story.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We came across a tweet by the official Twitter handle of Office of Nitin Gadkari, which shared a clip and wrote that 'Gadkari was narrating an old story'.
Taking a cue from here, we searched for the video on YouTube and found a 27-minute long video on Gadkari's official channel. As per the caption, the video was from the launch of a book 'Naukarsyahi Ke Rang’ written by Dnyaneshwar M Mulay.
In the longer version of video, Gadkari can be heard speaking narrating an incident from the 1990s, when he was the minister of Public Works Department of Maharashtra.
He goes on to say, "When I was the Minister of PWD in Maharashtra, there is a place called Melghat, in the district of Amravati. Around 2,500 children lost their lives due to malnutrition and this became a huge news worldwide during 1996-97, if you all remember."
Sharing an exchange with the then Maharashtra chief minister, Manohar Joshi, Gadkari said that he was worried about the condition of the roads and once told him, "What kind of a situation is this where there are 450 villages in Melghat, but there are no roads?"
Alluding to a conversation that Joshi had with the chief conservator of forest department, Gadkari said Joshi once asked the officer if they don't feel anything for the children who can't go to a school, or farmers who can't sell their produce in the market. To which the officer replied, "I am sorry, I am helpless. I can't do anything."
It was when talking about this incident that Gadkari says, "Then I couldn't stop myself and I told Joshi that you leave this to me. I am an expert in this. I will do this. I don't care about the end result and if it's possible for you to support me, then do so or let it be. I don't care if I lose my position."
The viral post is only 39 seconds long whereas, his original speech lasts 27 minutes and 15 seconds.
Clearly, a clipped video of Gadkari has been shared with a false claim that he hinted at leaving the BJP. The minister took to Twitter to dismiss the rumours and share the full video of his address as well.
He wrote that his remark has been shared out of context and that he will not "hesitate to take them to the law in the larger interest of our government, party and millions of our hardworking Karyakartas."
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