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Image Credit: Twitter/Paras K Ghelaani, Facebook/Rahul Gandhi
No, Former Union Minister Jitendra Singh Alwar Did Not Tie Rahul Gandhi's Shoelaces As Claimed On Social Media
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Rajasthan, 23 Dec 2022 10:57 AM GMT
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As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
We found that the viral claim is false as Jitendra Singh Alwar did not bend to tie Rahul Gandhi’s shoes but his own shoelaces. Gandhi stopped as Alwar bent down to tie his shoelaces that appeared as if the former Union minister bent down to tie up Gandhi’s shoelaces.
A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and former Union Minister Jitendra Singh Alwar is going viral on social media. Netizens have circulated the video claiming that Alwar was captured tying the shoelaces of Gandhi. The video is going viral in the context of the Bharat Jodo Yatra currently travelling through Gurgaon, Haryana.
Claim:
The 21-second video shared by netizens shows Congress leader Jitendra Singh Alwar walking along with Gandhi in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Alwar can be seen bending down, which stops Rahul Gandhi in his tracks. As he observes Alwar, Gandhi eventually pats him on the back and then waves to the crowd.
A Twitter user shared this video with the claim, "Former union minister Bhanwar Jitendra Singh goes down on his knee to tie Rahul Gandhi's shoelace. The arrogant, entitled brat, instead of helping himself, is seen patting his back. Was Kharge ji was talking about this practice? There is no shortage of bootlickers in Congress."
Aman Chopra, the Senior Editor at Network 18, shared the video with the claim, "The one who has been patted on the back by Rahul Gandhi is former Union Minister Bhanwar Jitendra Singh."
The claim was circulated through a Free Press Journal article published on December 21, 2022, titled, 'Rahul Gandhi gets shoe laces tied by ex-Union Minister at Bharat Jodo Yatra, BJP says 'entitled brat'.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. Jitendra Singh Alwar did not bend to tie Rahul Gandhi's shoes but his own shoes.
We scanned through the replies to Malviya's tweet and found a Twitter reply by Prashant Pratap, the National Media Coordinator for the Congress, uploaded on December 21, 2022.
The tweet contains an image of Jitendra Singh Alwar walking along with Rahul Gandhi. The image shows Alwar with his shoelaces untied. The post is captioned, "Shoes laces of Jitendra Singh Alwar are untied and can be seen clearly in the picture. He was tying his own laces."
Independent journalist Ranvijay Singh tweeted the same image on December 21, 2022, with the statement, "A video was shared by the IT cell in which it was said that Jitendra Singh was tying Rahul Gandhi's shoelaces. This is fake news. Jitendra Singh's shoelace was untied, Rahul Gandhi asked him to tie it, Jitendra Singh tied his shoelace."
Prashant Singh also shared a video of the incident, which shows Alwar bending down to tie his shoelaces. He also shared a screengrab which shows a different angle to the viral video, showing that Alwar was bending down to tie his own shoelaces.
Arun Kumar Singh, a journalist at News18, shared the same video of Alwar bending down to tie his shoelaces on December 21, 2022, with the statement, "Truth -- Bhanwar Jitendra Singh is tying his shoelaces, not Rahul Gandhi's."
Congress social media chairperson Supriya Shrinate uploaded the same set of video and image on December 21, 2022.
We also came across a tweet by Jitendra Singh Alwar on his official Twitter handle uploaded on December 21, 2022. The tweet reads, "As in charge of ruling BJP's National Info Department, your tweet is a complete lie and defamatory. The fact is that after being pointed out by Rahul ji upon my request, he paused briefly so that I could tie my own shoelaces. Delete the tweet and apologise to RG or face legal action."
Alwar also posted a video statement on his verified Twitter handle on December 21, 2022. The caption reads, "BJP IT cell circulated FAKE news. While walking in the yatra, my shoe laces came untied, and then Rahul Gandhi saw that and asked me to tie the laces. Apologise to Rahul Gandhi for misleading the country by misrepresenting this small matter, Amit Malviya."
In the video statement, Jitendra Singh says that he was unaware of his shoelaces becoming untied while walking in the march. Rahul Gandhi had then advised Jitendra Singh to tie his laces. Following this, as Jitendra Singh paused to tie his shoelaces, Gandhi stopped for a while. Jitendra Singh further added that Rahul Gandhi wears shoes without laces, indicating that there was no chance of him tying Gandhi's laces. Shrinate tweeted an image of Gandhi's shoe as well, which is laceless.
Conclusion:
We found that the viral claim is false as Jitendra Singh Alwar did not bend to tie Rahul Gandhi's shoes but rather his own shoes. Gandhi stopped as Alwar bent down to tie his shoelaces which was shot so that it appeared as if the former Union minister bent down to tie up Gandhi's shoelaces. Thus, the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: No, Rahul Gandhi Did Not Oppose Hindi; Viral Video Is Circulated Without The Entire Context
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