CLAIM
A video viral on Facebook shows Gujarat OBC leader Alpesh Thakor addressing a rally, where he asks the audience to raise slogans in praise of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who is also present.
Alpesh can be heard saying, "I will say Rahul Gandhi, you say ‘Zindabaad’,", following which people are heard chanting "Modi Modi" in return.
The video has been shared with the caption: "गुजरात के अहमदनगर में राहुल_गांधी की रैली में कांग्रेस विधायक अल्पेश_ठाकोर ने कांग्रेस राहुल गांधी का नारा लगाया जनता ने मोदी का नारा लगाया अल्पेश ठाकुर बोले बस बस 😁😂😁😂" (Translated: At a rally held by Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat’s Ahmednagar, Congress leader Alpesh Thakor raised slogans in favour of Gandhi, and people responded with ‘Modi Modi’, Thakor said enough.)
TRUE OR FALSE?
The video has been edited to add the chants of "Modi Modi", as can be ascertained from the original video uploaded by Gujarat Congress onto Youtube, dated 24 October 2017.
At 33.31 minutes into the video, Thakor can be heard asking people to chant slogans in support of Gandhi, where the audience responds with, "Rahul Gandhi Zindabad".
The video is from Navsarjan Janadesh Mahasammelan, organised by the Congress party ahead of the Gujarat elections, which is also when Thakor formally joined the national party.
The edited video earlier went viral ahead of the Gujarat elections in 2017 and was then debunked by ABP News as well. It now appears to have resurfaced in light of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
WHERE IS THAKOR NOW?
As a leader of the OBC Ekta Manch, Alpesh Thakor managed to remain in the limelight during the reservation strife started by the Patidars in Gujarat. He reached the peak of his political career when he won the Radhanpur constituency on a Congress ticket in the 2017 Assembly elections.
Following a tumultuous few months with the party in the latter half of 2018, Thakor on 9 March put to rest weeks of speculation about his future as a Gujarat Congress MLA, when he declared that he will continue with the Grand Old Party, while admitting that he had considered changing sides for power.
For weeks, Thakor had kept the Congress on knife edge, especially when the BJP is managing to turn several MLAs from Opposition towards the saffron party.
“I am being honest, I wanted to become a minister and I did work towards it. When I thought positively towards moving to the BJP, I did remember how I won the elections in 2017 and how the people’s mandate instructed me to be with the Congress,” he said.
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