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Image Credit: Twitter/Social Tamasha, Facebook/Rahul Gandhi
No, Rahul Gandhi Did Not Oppose Hindi; Viral Video Is Circulated Without The Entire Context
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.
India, 22 Dec 2022 10:46 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.
A video of Rahul Gandhi is viral with the claim that he is against Hindi. The Logical Indian Fact-Check team verifies the claim.
A viral claim regarding the stances of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Hindi language is widely circulated across social media. The video is going viral across social media in the context of the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, which has crossed into Haryana from Rajasthan as the walkathon completes 105 days on the road.
Claim:
The video shows two different videos showing Rahul Gandhi and PM Modi. In the video, he can be heard saying, "If you want to talk with the rest of the world, be it people from America, Japan, or England, then Hindi will not be useful there, and only English would be useful there."
Meanwhile, in PM Modi's video, he can be heard saying, "Our diversity is the mark of our democracy. This is a country where there are multiple languages, several dialects, and different ways of livelihood. This is an example of a vibrant democracy. A small kid who used to help his father at a tea stall in the railway station is addressing the UNGA for the fourth time as the Indian Prime Minister; it is an example of India's strong democracy."
The caption with the viral video reads, "The difference is clear. On one side, Rahul Gandhi is questioning the Hindi language in India. On the other hand, PM Narendra Modi increased the country's respect by speaking Hindi in the United Nations."
The same video was shared with a different caption, "Rahul Gandhi from the Congress against Hindus is questioning the Hindi language. On the other hand, PM Modi is increasing the country's prestige by addressing the UN in the Hindi language. Should the one who insults the country or the one who increases the pride of the country? The decision is yours. #RahulInsultsHindi".
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The speech of Rahul Gandhi is presented out of context.
We noticed that the viral video shows the Congress party president. Accordingly, we conducted a keyword search. This threw up a video of a public meeting featuring the Congress President and Gandhi on the official YouTube channel of Rahul Gandhi, uploaded on December 19, 2022.
At the 1.08.06 mark in the video, Gandhi can be heard saying, "The BJP leaders, wherever they go, they talk against English. They say English should not be taught in schools. Bengali and Hindi should be there, but English should not be there. Do one thing, go to these leaders who say that English should not exist in schools and ask them which schools their children attend. Do they go to an English medium school? Yes or No? It's yes."
"All of their children from Amit Shah to the children of all their Chief Ministers, the children of all the MPs and all the MLAs… all of them attend English medium schools, and then they give speeches that no one should speak English.
"They do not want the poor of India, the farmer's child, the laborer's child to learn English. This is because they don't want you to dream big. Don't leave the farm. Don't get out of labor. That's why they tell you not to study English. I am not saying don't read Hindi. Tamil should be read, Hindi should be read, Marathi should be read… all the languages of India should be read. If you want to talk to the people of the rest of the world, be it the people of America, the people of Japan, or the people of England, then Hindi will not be useful there. Only English will be useful. We want the child of the poorest farmer in India to one day compete with the youths of America and defeat them in their own language."
Meanwhile, we conducted a keyword search for 'PM Modi UNGA' and found that PM Modi gave the speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2021. Modi's remarks heard in the viral video can be heard at the 2.00 mark.
The remarks were also tweeted in written form by the official Twitter handle of PM Modi on September 25, 2021.
Conclusion:
We found that the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi are circulated without context. Gandhi was referring to BJP leaders allegedly denouncing teaching English in schools to suppress India's poor population. The Congress leader notes that he is not biased towards Hindi in his speech. Thus, we can conclude that 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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