An old video showing Paresh Rawal apologising to an agitated crowd, is being shared online claiming the actor and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said sorry for his recent remarks made in a speech ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat.
The nearly one-minute long viral video shows a group of angry youngsters confronting the actor and demanding that the actor apologise. A policeman can be seen standing near Rawal in the video.
The official Twitter handle of Manipur Congress Sevadal took a dig at Rawal based on the video and tweeted, "sir how is the josh?" (sic.) Click here to see the archive of the tweet.
Rawal, a former Member of Parliament, courted controversy when he said that Gujaratis could tolerate high inflation but what if Bangladeshis and Rohingyas start living around them. He also asked the crowd if they would "cook fish for the Bengalis" with their gas connections. The actor made the remarks in a speech in Valsad, Gujarat while campaigning for the BJP. The viral clip is being shared in this context.
Several social media users have called out his speech as hateful rhetoric and anti-Bengali.
Rawal later tweeted that he meant illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas when he said "Bengalis" in his speech.
Fact Check
A Twitter user in the replies pointed out that the video is old and unrelated and attached a screenshot of a clip where Rawal apologises for referring to Rajputs as monkeys.
Taking a cue from this we looked up 'Paresh Rawal Rajputs' on YouTube and found a longer version of the same video uploaded on November 30, 2017, clearly proving that the viral clip is old and unrelated to Rawal's "will you cook fish for Bengalis" remark.
In the video, titled as Paresh Rawal apologising to Rajput Samaj (परेश रावल माफी मांगते हुए राजपूत समाज से) Rawal can be heard saying, "Listen to me. I will definitely apologise." Rawal, then goes on to clarify his statement about Rajputs, and rendering an 'unconditional apology, in front of an agitated crowd.
We then looked up for news reports and found that Rawal had earlier compared royals to monkeys at an event held in November, 2017. At a rally, Rawal compared raja with monkeys while praising Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and how he united the country during independence. Rawal later apologised for his comments in 2017, when confronted by a crowd.
An excerpt from a DNA report quoted Rawal as saying, "I apologise unconditionally to all the members of Rajput community. I don't know why I spoke those words. I never intended to hurt sentiments of any community." He later said that the comment was aimed at the Nizam of Hyderabad and not Rajputs. Rawal had told the media, "My statement was not on the Rajput community. They are a splendour community in India and they make us proud. Nothing wrong will come out of my mouth against such a brave community."