That’s Not Maneka Gandhi Criticising Modi Govt’s Handling of COVID

The woman in the video is Congress’ Dolly Sharma, taking a dig at Modi-led government and not BJP’s Maneka Gandhi.

A viral video showing woman taking a dig at the PM Modi-led government was falsely identified as BJP’s Maneka Gandhi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

In a viral video, a woman is seen criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been misidentified as senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader and MP Maneka Gandhi.

However, we found that the woman in the video is Congress’ Dolly Sharma who had posted the longer version of the viral video on her Facebook account in April.

CLAIM

The claim along with the video reads: “सुनिये भाजपा की सांसद आदरणीय श्रीमती मेनका गांधी जी की ह्रदय की आवाज को न की मन की बात को”

(Translated: Listen to the voice of the heart of the BJP MP Maneka Gandhi ji, and not to the Mann ki Baat)

You can view the archived version here.

Several social media users shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim, and the archived posts can be viewed here, here, and here.

The Quint received a query about the claim made in the viral video on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

While going through the comments on one of the viral posts, we found that a Facebook user had mentioned that the woman seen in the video is one Dolly Sharma from the Indian National Congress.

We then found a nearly 23-minute-long LIVE video uploaded on Dolly Sharma’s Facebook account on 20 April and the footage seen in the viral video can be viewed from 14:15 minutes.

She criticised the government for its handling of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

WOMAN IN VIDEO IS CONGRESS’ DOLLY SHARMA, NOT MANEKA GANDHI

Dolly Sharma is a member of the Congress party and was a candidate from Ghaziabad for the Lok Sabha elections held in 2019, details of which can be viewed on the MyNeta website.

Left: Viral video. Middle: Maneka Gandhi. Right: Dolly Sharma.

Evidently, a viral video showing a woman taking a dig at the central government has been falsely identified as BJP’s Maneka Gandhi.

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