A video of Rahul Gandhi talking about implementing a nationwide Socio-Economic and Caste Census to determine the contribution of backward castes, Scheduled Castes, Dalits, and minorities has been doctored and shared with a false claim that the Congress leader spoke specifically about minorities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently criticised Congress' manifesto and made false and communal claims regarding the party's stand on wealth redistribution.
The 42 seconds video was shared on X by Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) with the caption, "Step 1 - Do a nationwide"X-Ray" Step 2- Analyse how much is owed to 'Minorities' Step 3 - Do 'Survey' of Individuals Step 4 - Find who has the 'Wealth' Step 5 - Analyse their caste Step 6 - Do Re-distribution of wealth. Every Vote to Congress is signing your own death warrant"
BOOM has previously debunked misinformation posted by Bagree.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
The same video was also posted on X by the handle Arun Pudur with the same false claim.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Fact-Check
BOOM found that Rahul Gandhi in his speech stated that the Congress party would implement a Socio-Economic and Caste Census, following which backward classes, Dalits, Adivasis, economically backward general castes, and minorities would be able to ascertain their respective contribution in the country.
The part where Gandhi says SC, ST, Dalits has been cropped out to make the false claim.
We checked the full version of the speech uploaded on Congress's official YouTube channel on April 6, 2024, and found that the viral video is cropped.
The relevant portion is at 31.27 minutes timestamp.
"When our government comes, we will implement the caste census that we did in Telangana in the entire country. We will do an X-ray of the country and the lower backward classes, Dalits and tribals, the poor general caste people and minorities will come to know their participation in this country," Rahul Gandhi said in his speech.
The part where Gandhi said, "lower backward classes, Dalits and tribals, the poor general caste people", has been left out of the viral video to make make the false claim he spoke only about minorities.
After this Gandhi spoke about conducting a financial survey. The entire speech can be seen below.