A video showing Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP) from Raebareli Rahul Gandhi surrounded by a crowd of people at Assam's Silchar Airport is being shared on social media.
In this video, people can be seen giving Rahul Gandhi certain things such as the traditional Assamese gamosa and a tricolour scarf, appearing to be a Congress scarf.
The claim: Those sharing have claimed that Gandhi refused to accept the traditional gamosa.
Who shared it?: Journalist Atanu Bhuyan shared the claim on his X (formerly Twitter) page.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
This post recorded 55.5K views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)
Is this true?: No, the claim is misleading.
While Gandhi did not wear the gamosa at the airport, he accepted it from the person who gave it to him. Apart from this, he did not wear the tricolour scarf as well. He simply accepted it, same as the gamosa.
There are several pictures of Gandhi wearing the gamosa over the course of other events during his recent visit to Assam.
How did we find out?: We noticed the logo of the news outlet 'NB News' on the viral video and then, a relevant keyword search on YouTube.
We came across a longer version of the viral video of Gandhi at Silchar airport. It was uploaded on 8 July.
We watched the full video and found that Gandhi accepted the gamosa from the person giving it to him.
Although, he did not wear it, he accepted it on his way towards his car.
At 0:02 seconds of the full video, Gandhi can be seen accepting the traditional scarf from the person.
Here is a close-up of the frame.
(Source: NB News/Altered by The Quint)
At 0:05 seconds, Gandhi is seen accepting another white scarf but not wearing it, as well.
Here is a close-up of the frame.
(Source: NB News/Altered by The Quint)
At 0:07 seconds, a person is seen reaching out to put a tricolour scarf around Gandhi's neck.
The next second Gandhi is seen taking that scarf in his hand and not wearing it.
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Here is a close-up of the frame.
(Source: NB News/Altered by The Quint)
At 0:11 seconds, all three scarfs can be seen in Gandhi's hand.
Here is a close-up of the frame.
(Source: NB News/Altered by The Quint)
The same visuals can be seen on News18's North East Assam channel on their YouTube. It was uploaded on 8 July.
Pictures of Rahul Gandhi wearing the gamosa: The official X account of the Indian National Congress (INC) posted images of Gandhi wearing the traditional Assamese scarf on 8 July.
It was uploaded with the caption, "LoP Shri Rahul Gandhi receives a heartfelt reception at Silchar Airport from leaders of Assam and Manipur." (sic.)
Similarly, Assam Pradesh Youth Congress replied to a user who had posted the viral claim and posted a picture of Gandhi wearing the gamosa around his neck. They wrote, "Then what is this, Mr Bhuyan? Stop working like an agent of BJP and start asking questions that will benefit the people of Assam."
Assam Congress President also replied to Bhuyan and mentioned that Gandhi had accepted dozens of gamosas inside the airport.
Thereafter he came out to see hundreds of people outside holding gamosas in their hands. This is also seen in the longer version of the NB News video. He also mentioned that the image was taken at Silchar airport.
Conclusion: It is clear that the video of Rahul Gandhi at Silchar airport is being spread with a misleading claim.
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