Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT cell convener Amit Malviya shared a short video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaking at a press conference on his Twitter account and took a dig at Gandhi, referring to his argument as a "dangerous" one, if it was not childish.
In the video, Gandhi says, "We are fighting against India's entire infrastructure."
However, the video shared by Malviya is edited. In a longer version of the video, the Congress leader is heard talking about the current government taking over institutions – judicial structure, electoral structure, and the media – by putting "their people" such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members in them.
He goes on to say that because of this, the Congress is not fighting against one party, it is "fighting India's entire infrastructure."
CLAIM
Amit Malviya took to Twitter to share a short video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying, "If Rahul Gandhi’s prater weren’t puerile, they would be deeply dangerous..."
An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A keyword search for Gandhi's statement in the clip led us to a report dated 5 August by India Today, which carried the same clip starting at the one minute and thirty second mark in its report.
The report was on Gandhi speaking at a press conference in Delhi.
(Source: YouTube/Altered by The Quint)
The report's description mentioned that it showed Rahul Gandhi speaking at a press conference at the Congress' headquarters, ahead of the nationwide protests by the party's members on 6 August over inflation, price rise, and unemployment.
Taking a cue from this, we looked for the full video of the press conference on the Indian National Congress' verified YouTube channel.
The press conference was held at the All India Congress Committee's headquarters in Delhi, and saw Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, MP Jairam Ramesh, Rahul Gandhi, and others in attendance.
The conference commenced by Gandhi talking to the press about the "onset of dictatorship" and the "death of democracy" in the country, noting that Congress MPs were not being allowed to raise questions in the Parliament.
He went on to take questions from the media, noting that what the Congress "had built in 70 years, the government is taking apart in eight years." Gandhi accused the Centre of protecting the interests of a small group of people and not discussing people's issues in the country.
Responding to a reporter's question about why, despite repeated protests, there seemed to be no pressure on the current government, Gandhi said, "In a democracy, when the Opposition fights, it fights on the basis of its institutions." The legal structure, the judicial structure, the electoral structure and the media "are all supporting the government," he added.
"None of these institutions are independent today. Every institution in India is under the RSS' control – one person from RSS is present in each of them. So, we're not fighting against one political party, we're fighting against India's entire infrastructure."
Gandhi said that when the Congress was in power, they did not control the institutions. "The fight used to be among two or three parties. Today, the entire government infrastructure is supporting one single party," he noted.
Concluding his response, he told the press that despite the Opposition uniting and fighting strongly, it was unsuccessful in creating the desired impact as the Centre had total institutional and financial control (alluding to the Enforcement Directorate).
You can watch a shorter version of Gandhi's statement with additional context here:
Evidently, a clipped video of Rahul Gandhi saying that the Congress was fighting against India's entire infrastructure was shared without context, to take a dig at the party leader.
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