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.

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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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