A cropped video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi mouthing the words 'Bharat Jodo' during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in parliament is circulating with a false claim that it shows Gandhi uttering an expletive against the prime minister.
BOOM found that the original video shows Gandhi chanting Bharat Jodo along with other opposition leaders during PM Modi's speech in the parliament on July 2, 2024.
The 5-second video shows Modi delivering a speech in parliament; it then shows Gandhi mouthing the words while sloganeering continues in the background.
Portions of Rahul Gandhi's maiden speech as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha were expunged from the official records by Speaker Om Birla on July 2. In the speech, Gandhi attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party and its brand of Hinduism that he alleged divided people.
An X user posted the video and wrote, "Look at his face he is abusing PM Of India as *** He is lucky that his Mike was off."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The same claim is also circulating on Facebook.
Click here to view one such post.
Fact Check
BOOM found that the original speech was uploaded to Sansad TV's official YouTube channel on July 2, 2024, where it can be seen that Gandhi was chanting 'Bharat Jodo' along with other opposition leaders during Modi's speech.
Starting at 26:47 minutes, the video shows opposition leaders began chanting 'Bharat Jodo' while PM Modi was speaking in the parliament about Bhimrao Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian constitution. Later, at the 26:56-minute mark, the camera captured Rahul Gandhi joining in the sloganeering.
Furthermore, we observed that Gandhi's lips are synchronising with the background chanting of "Bharat Jodo."
The viral segment of the telecast can be viewed from 26:57 minutes to 27:03 minutes in the original video. The segment of the telecast recording the "Bharat Jodo" sloganeering inside the parliament can also be seen below.
On July 2, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the president's address in the Lok Sabha, criticised the Congress party and accused it of historically mistreating Dalits and backward classes. He also accused the Congress party of spreading misinformation about reservations. Modi said that Bhimrao Ambedkar resigned from Jawaharlal Nehru's Cabinet due to the Congress party's unjust treatment of Dalits and backward communities.
In response to PM Modi's speech, several opposition leaders began chanting 'Bharat Jodo', which translates to 'Unite India', as a counter to his remarks.
On July 3, the opposition staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha while PM Modi was delivering his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the president’s address. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, after being denied the opportunity to intervene, accused the PM of lying and alleged that the opposition MPs were unfairly prevented from speaking during PM Modi's address.