Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders recently tweeted a clipped video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and took a jibe at him for mentioning the country's population in 'rupees'.
In the video, Gandhi can be heard saying, "(I) want to talk about the economic condition of the country. The population of the country...140 crore rupees".
The viral video however has been clipped to include Gandhi's goof-up; in the longer version of the video the Congress leader immediately corrects himself after the faux pas.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted the video and captioned it as, "Imagine being accused of spending crores to malign Rahul Gandhi when all one has to do is listen to his comical speeches…"
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The clipped video was also tweeted by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra who brought reference of an old video of a clipped speech of Gandhi where he mentioned the unit of atta (flour, generally wheat flour) in litres. In the same video Gandhi quickly corrected himself after the error. Patra captioned the now viral video as, "Flour in liters and population in rupees, Rahul Gandhi is such a great scholar..."
(Original Text in Hindi: लीटर में आटा और रूपए में आबादी, ऐसे गजब के महाज्ञानी हैं राहुल गांधी...)
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The clipped video is being widely circulated on Facebook.
BOOM also received the video on its WhatsApp tipline number (7700906588) with a verification request.
Gandhi Quickly Rectifies The Faux Pas
BOOM noticed a reply in response to Malviya's tweet while looking for the entire statement from Gandhi. The tweet carried the longer video of the Congress leader's speech where Gandhi can be seen correcting his mistake immediately after mentioning population as '140 crore rupees'.
We then found the entire speech on Congress' official Twitter handle. The tweet from January 6, 2023, carried a video recording of Gandhi's speech where at the 33 minutes time stamp the Congress leader says, "The population of the country is 140 crores, around 100 people are sitting on the stage. Now, I want to tell you a little bit about the economic condition of the country."
He further continues saying, "The population of the country is 140 crore rupees, 140 crore people. In today's India, as much wealth is with half of the population of India, the same amount of wealth is in the hands of the richest 100 people of the country. Do you think this is correct? Do you see justice in this?"
We also found the same video on the Congress' official YouTube channel. Gandhi, in the video, can be heard criticising the economic policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a gathering during 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Panipat, Haryana. The viral video is being peddled clipping the same speech.
The Congress' nationwide campaign, Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' began from Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022 and will pass through 12 states. The yatra is expected to cover a distance of about 3,500 kms within a span of 150 days. On several occasions, Gandhi has criticised the policies of the government while addressing public gatherings during the yatra.