A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi explaining the meaning of X-ray to be "caste census" is going viral on social media.
The users are claiming that Gandhi explained X-ray as "jaati jan ganana".
In the clip, he is sharing an anecdote about an injury faced by his security guard.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here, here and here.)
What's the truth?: This video is clipped and has been taken out of context.
It does not show Gandhi explaining the meaning of X-ray as caste census. He was actually drawing a comparison between the two meanings metaphorically.
He explains how caste census is an "X-ray" that is vital to ensure the participation of all people of all castes.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a relevant keyword search on Google and came across several articlse about this reoccurring statement.
Reports shared by The Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu and Hindustan Times on different dates carried the same statement.
It stated that Gandhi compared the caste census to an "X-ray" that is necessary to ensure the participation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Dalits and tribals in the government according to their proportion in the population.
While explaining the analogy, he says that when a person gets injured, they get an X-ray done to learn more about the injury.
"In the same way, I call the caste census an X-ray. It will reveal the proportion of OBCs. Dalits and tribals in the population and ensure their participation in government," he said in a rally in Madhya Pradesh.
He has made this statement during his speeches in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and recently in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi.
This article was shared on 10 October 2023.
(Source: The Hindu/Screenshot)
Clipped video: We also found the longer version of the viral video which proved that the video has been clipped to share it out of context.
It was shared by the official YouTube account of Indian National Congress on 19 February.
At 16:27 timestamp, Gandhi says, "We need to take a revolutionary step and count everyone. How many poor general caste people are there in this country, and how much wealth do they have? How many backward classes are there in this country? Which castes are there? How much money do they have? How much wealth do Adivasis have? How much money do Dalits have? This means caste census (jaati jan ganana). Just like when someone gets injured, the first thing we do… Today when our security guy’s leg came under a car, the first thing we did was told him to go and get an X-ray first. X-ray means caste census."
Conclusion: A clipped video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's speech is being shared out of context.
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