Congress Leader Digvijay Singh Said There Is Nothing Wrong In Eating Beef? No, Viral Claim Is Misleading

A short clip of Congress leader and former CM of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, is viral on social media, alleging he slurred anti-Hindu remarks in one of his public addresses. In the viral clip, Digvijay Singh can be heard saying in Hindi, "हिंदू धर्म का हिंदुत्व के साथ कोई संबंध नहीं है। यह भी लिखा है कि गाय ऐसा पशु है जो खुद के मल में लोट लेती है। वह कहां से हमारी माता हो सकती है। उसका गोमांस खाने में कोई खराबी नहीं है." [English Translation: Hinduism has nothing to do with Hindutva. It is also written that the cow is such an animal that rolls in its own faeces. From where can she be our mother? There is nothing wrong with eating beef.]

A Twitter user shared this video with a caption in Hindi that reads, "दिग्विजय सिंह पर एक्शन लिया जाए सभी हिन्दू भाईयों से अपील है| गो मास खाने को बोल रहा है | सभी का जमीर मर गया क्या जिस हिन्दू का खून ना खौले वो खून नहीं पानी है." [English Translation: Action should be taken on Digvijay Singh. Appeal to all Hindu brothers. He is asking to eat beef. Has everyone's conscience died? A Hindu whose blood does not boil, then it's not blood it's water.]

Another user wrote a caption in Hindi that reads, "गाय जो है ऐसा पशु है जो खुद के मल में लोट लेती है, उसके मांस को खाने में कोई कोई खराबी नही है, यह हिंदुओ की माता कैसे हो सकती है : दिग्विजय सिंह @INCIndia @srinivasiyc @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @digvijaya_28 कितने बेशर्म है और बेधर्मी है तुमलोग, मुस्लिम वोट के लिए कुछ भी."

[English Translation: Cow is such an animal that rolls in its own faeces, there is no harm in eating its meat, how can it be the mother of Hindus: Digvijay Singh. @INCIndia @srinivasiyc @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @digvijaya_28 How shameless and unrighteous are you guys, you can do anything for Muslim votes.]

The video is doing rounds on Facebook and Twitter with a similar narrative since the last month.

Claim:

Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that there is nothing wrong with eating beef.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be misleading. The clip is cropped and is being shared out of context.

We extracted different keyframes of the shared video using the InVid tool and ran a google reverse image search. It led us to several media reports which mentioned the viral statement given by Digvijay Singh. According to the report of Dainik Bhaskar dated 25 December 2021, Digvijay Singh had quoted Veer Savarkar's book while giving the viral statement. Digvijay was speaking in the public awareness campaign of Congress at Tulsi Nagar Narmada Mandir Bhawan, Bhopal. He said, "Savarkar has written in the book that there is no harm in eating beef. This is said by Savarkar Ji who is a special ideologue of BJP and Sangh these days". The extended version of the viral video in which he can be heard quoting Savarkar during his speech can also be seen in this report. News outlets like Aaj Tak, OneIndia and Navbharat covered the same.

On searching more, we found the extended versions of Digvijay Singh's speech on his official Facebook page dated 25 December 2021. The caption of the video reads in Hindi, "मध्यप्रदेश की राजधानी भोपाल में जन जागरण अभियान के अंतर्गत एक दिवसीय प्रशिक्षण शिविर में प्रशिक्षकों व प्रशिक्षुओं से सीधा संवाद."[English Translation: Direct interaction with trainers and trainees in one-day training camp under Jan Jagran Abhiyan in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh.]

In this 29 minutes and 24-second long video, we can see the viral footage. At 6:55 to 8:03 seconds of timestamp, he said, "His country is a country of unity in diversity. There are also Hindus here who eat beef and ask where it is written not to eat beef. Also, here most of the Hindus are against cow slaughter. It is written in Savarkar's book – Hinduism has nothing to do with Hindutva. It is also written that the cow is such an animal that rolls in its own faeces. From where can she be our mother? He has nothing wrong with eating beef. This has been said by Savarkar Ji himself, a special ideologue of BJP and Sangh these days." Below you can see the extended version of the viral clip.

On further investigation, we also found a tweet made by Digvijay Singh in which he shared the original clip and alleged BJP IT cell for portraying him as a supporter of cow slaughter by posting an edited excerpt of his speech. Below you can see the tweet.

We also contacted Gaurav Pandhi, National Coordinator, Digital Communications & Social Media at Indian National Congress. While talking to the Logical Indian, he said, "This video came out last month and is viral with a false claim. In the whole video, he was quoting Savarkar and said that Savarkar has said this about cows and eating beef in his book. There was an event in a one-day training camp under Jan Jagran Abhiyan in Bhopal, where he spoke about it."

After going through the more extended version of Digvijay Singh's speech, we can conclude that a cropped part of his speech is being shared out of context. While giving a speech regarding eating beef, he was actually referring to Veer Savarkar's book. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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