An old video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a rally at Patan, Gujarat, is viral online with the false claim that he used profanity laced language in his address by saying 'BC', an abbreviation for a Hindi swear word.
BOOM found that the claims are false and the 2019 video is being falsely linked to the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The video shows Modi talking about a war for water in Gujarati; he is not heard using any inappropriate language in this address.
The 15-second viral video shows Modi speaking in Gujarati about a war for water and a text on the video reads, "Modi said BC at a rally."
The video is being shared on Facebook with the caption, "Does this 'convinced' representative sent by God 'purposefully' speak such decent language from the stage, or is it just a coincidence?"
(Original text in Hindi: "परमात्मा का भेजा हुआ यह 'कन्विन्स्ड' प्रतिनिधि 'पर्पसफुली' इतनी शालीन भाषा मंच से बोलता है, या ससुरा महज संयोग है?")
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post is also circulating on X with the same caption.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
FACT CHECK
BOOM translated the portion from Modi's speech and found that he had not used any profanity or swear words in his address. Further, the video is old and is being falsely linked to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
We noticed the logo of news outlet The Quint on the viral video and a title, 'PM Modi Addresses a Rally in Patan, Gujarat'. Taking a cue from this, we ran a search for the full, original video and found that it had been live streamed on The Quint's YouTube channel on April 21, 2019, during the previous general elections.
The portion of the viral video begins from 43:19 where Modi first claims that if his party is elected to power, a separate ministry for water would be created.
His next statement is being used in the viral video to claim that he used a swear word. The original line in Gujarati is, "લોકો એમ કહે છે ભાવિશ માં લડાઈ પાની ની થવા ની છે. બાધા કો છો પાની ની લડાઈ થવાની છે તો પછી અમે અત્યારે થી પાની પેલા પાર કેમ ના બાંધીએ" which roughly translates in Hindi to, "लोगों का कहना है कि आने वाले समय में पानी को लेकर मारामारी होगी. अगर हर कोई यह कह रहा है, तो हम अब से पानी पार क्यों न बांधे"
We also translated this sentence into English and found that it says, "People are saying that in the future, there will be a fight for water. And if everyone is saying there is a fight for water, why don't we take precautions now?"
The last part of this statement is a Gujarati proverb, "paani paar bandhna" that refers to preparing for a situation in advance, which Modi uses to reference his proposal of a Water Ministry. Modi cannot be heard using any swear word in the viral clip or anywhere else in the speech.
