By Archis Chowdhury
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders shared a clipped video of Rahul Gandhi walking by mediapersons and saying, "Until it works... when it stops working" with the false claim that he is refering to ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.
We found that the footage being shared has been cropped and presented out of context. Longer versions of the footage, shared by media outlets and journalists, revealed that Gandhi was responding to a question about his T-shirt, and not about the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Gandhi entered Delhi earlier this week, with the Congress leader making several speeches from the Red Fort. The cropped video is being shared in this backdrop.
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In the nine-second-clip, Gandhi is seeing walking by media persons who ask him a question, and then replying in Hindi, "Until it works... I will stop when it stops working."
BJP Delhi General Secretary Kuljeet Singh Chahal shared Gandhi's comments in Hindi (जब तक चल रही है… जब नहीं काम करेगी तो रोक देंगे…), along with the caption, "For Rahul Gandhi, Bharat Jodo Yatra is timepass."
Click here to access an archive of the tweet.
You can find similar posts by other BJP leaders here, here and here.
Amit Malviya, BJP's IT Cell leader, also shared the cropped video, but did not include any direct reference to Bharat Jodo Yatra. Instead, he wrote, "How will it work this way, Prince?"
Several other users on Twitter and Facebook were found sharing the same clip with similar captions.
Fact-Check
BOOM found a longer version of the same footage, shared by News18 India's associate editor Arun Kumar Singh. In this video, an individual behind the camera is heard saying, "Will it keep going in t-shirt itself"
Singh writes in the caption, that Gandhi's response was, "This t-shirt has been working."
ANI also shared a similar footage, and confirmed in the caption that Gandhi was indeed responding to a question regarding his T-shirt.
ANI reporter Siddharth Sharma also posted a similar footage, and further confirmed that the conversation was about Gandhi's t-shirt. "Journalists asked how long will the T-shirt last?
Rahul Gandhi said with fervor, it will work till it lasts," he wrote.
During the Delhi phase of his march, Gandhi drew the attention of netizens and journalists by wearing the t-shirt in question, while the national capital experienced a severe cold wave with temperatures below 10°C.
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BOOM closely heard the footage shared by ANI and Singh, and confirmed that the discussion in the clip was indeed about Gandhi's t-shirt, and not his march, as the BJP leaders claimed.
According to our observation, upon being asked if his march shall continue in the t-shirt itself, Gandhi is heard saying, "Will make it work until it works.. when it stops working.. (inaudible)."
