No, Rahul Gandhi Didn't Claim That He Spoke To Mahatma Gandhi; Cropped Video Viral With False Claim!

A video of Rahul Gandhi saying that he talked with Mahatma Gandhi is being widely shared across social media. The video is being shared with a claim that Rahul Gandhi made an illogical and bizarre statement allegedly under the influence of drugs.

The Logical Indian Fact Check Team had debunked a similar video shared by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya, which showed an out-of-context statement by Rahul Gandhi. Check the Fact Check here.

Claim:

The video, with a duration of 42 seconds, shows Rahul Gandhi talking at an event. The Congress leader can be heard in the video saying, "...on this issue, I discussed with Gandhiji as well. And in my mind...my entire logic...is exclaiming that on this issue, Gandhi is wrong and I am right. But I know that my mind is telling me he (Gandhi) is wrong and I'm right. However, I know that he is right and I am wrong."

The translated claim reads, "He spoke directly to Gandhiji! Then, why do you close down the cannabis shop on August 15?" The claim alleges that Rahul Gandhi made a bizarre remark about conversing with Mahatma Gandhi during the recent Independence Day.

The video is viral across Twitter and Facebook.

The Logical Indian received several messages on our WhatsApp fact check no. +91-6364000343 requesting to fact check the claim.

Screengrabs of a request received on the TLI WhatsApp fact check number

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. Viral video is cropped and shared out of context.

First, we conducted a keyword search to find out that Mahatma Gandhi died on January 31, 1948, as per media reports, whereas Rahul Gandhi was born on 19 June 1970. We thus ascertained that there was no possibility of a conversation between Mahatma Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi occurring.

We then used InVid's Keyframe Analysis Tool to isolate the keyframes of the viral video. We then conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes which led us to this video uploaded on the official page of the Indian National Congress on February 26, 2022.

The video caption reads as follows, "Nehru's letter: In the letter, Nehru ji writes – I had a conversation with Gandhiji on this matter, but in my mind, I think that Gandhiji is wrong in this matter, and I am speaking right. But I know he is right, I am wrong: Shri Rahul Gandhi." In the video, before Rahul Gandhi mentions the conversation with Mahatma Gandhi, he mentions the name of Jawaharlal Nehru, indicating that he was not talking about his alleged interaction with Mahatma Gandhi.

We also came across a video report uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Economic Times on March 12, 2022. The video carries a credit to the Indian National Congress. We noticed that the background of the viral video was the same as the video uploaded by Economic Times.

The caption of the video stated that Gandhi addressed the state Gujarat Congress unit in a brainstorming session called 'Chintan Shivir' to deliberate upon a detailed strategy for the upcoming state Assembly polls. The Congress leader criticised the BJP, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in his speech, as per the caption.

We then searched for Rahul Gandhi's speech at Chintan Shivir in Gujarat on the official YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress. We came across this video uploaded on Feb 26, 2022. At the 29.51 mark, the context of Rahul Gandhi's remarks can be heard. He says, "There was a major difference between Gandhiji and other leaders. My great grandfather (Nehru) also used to work alongwith Gandhiji. I read a letter written by him in which he wrote to someone about Gandhiji."

He continues by stating the text of the letter written by Nehru, "I had a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi on this issue. And my entire mind...my entire logic...is saying that on this issue, Gandhi is wrong and I am right. But I know that...from within, I am aware that my mind is telling me he (Gandhi) is wrong and I am right. But I know that he is right and I am wrong."

In our Fact Check, we also came across an ABP News report published on February 26, 2022. The report mentions the speech given by Rahul Gandhi and wrote about Nehru's dilemma regarding an issue with Mahatma Gandhi.

Image Credit: ABP Live

Conclusion:

In our Fact Check, we found that Rahul Gandhi was talking about Jawaharlal Nehru and his dilemma regarding an issue Nehru discussed with Mahatma Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi was referring to a letter written by Nehru, in which he had mentioned Mahatma Gandhi. Thus, we can ascertain that the viral video is a cropped version of an entire video and claim is fake.

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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