Clipped Video of Rahul Gandhi Speaking About Ramayana in Lok Sabha Goes Viral

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi returned to Lok Sabha on Wednesday, 9 August after his disqualification from Parliament over a defamation case.

As Gandhi's name started trending on social media, a clipped video of his speech also went viral.

What's the clip about?: The nine-second video shows Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla with Gandhi's voice in the background which says, "Brothers and sisters, Lanka was not set on fire by Hanuman."

• Social media users are sharing this video to take a dig at Gandhi's knowledge about the Ramayana.

Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.

So what was Gandhi saying?: This is a clipped video of Gandhi's speech.

• He was drawing a parallel between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ravana from Ramayana by saying how the latter's ego took him down and not an external force.

How did we find out about it?: On performing a relevant keyword search, we came across Gandhi's full speech in the Lok Sabha on 9 August.

• The video was uploaded by Gandhi's official YouTube channel and was titled, "भाजपा ने मणिपुर में भारत माता की हत्या की है | Rahul Gandhi Full Parliament Speech".

• The viral video starts at 30:15 timestamp where the video shows Birla on the screen with Gandhi's voice in the background.

• The complete sentence of Gandhi with further context as heard in the longer version of the video is (29:57 timestamp): Ravana used to listen to only two people, Meghnad and Kumbakaran. Likewise, Narendra Modi only listens to two people, Amit Shah and Adani.

• Then the viral video starts where Gandhi says, "Brothers and sisters, Hanuman did not set Lanka on fire. Lanka was set on fire because of Ravana's ego."

• Birla interrupts Gandhi but he further adds, "Ram didn't kill Ravana, Ravana's ego killed him."

• The same video can also be seen on Sansad TV's YouTube channel.

• The viral part starts from 35:45 timestamp and follows the extended part of Gandhi's speech that was clipped from the viral video.

More about Gandhi's return: Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after being convicted in a criminal defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Purnesh Modi in a Surat court.

• The punishment was two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 15,000, under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

• However, the Supreme Court on Friday, 4 August, stayed Gandhi's conviction in the case filed against him.

Conclusion: A clipped video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's speech is being shared online to claim that he made inaccurate statements about the Ramayana.

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