Edited video shared as Rahul Gandhi 'speaking incoherently' during election campaign

What is the claim?

As the 2024 Indian general elections loom, a surge of viral content, including photos and videos featuring political figures, inundates social media platforms. Among these, a video purportedly depicting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaking incoherently during an election rally has gained traction.

In the 16-second clip, Gandhi appears to utter disjointed phrases, leading to speculation about his competence. He can be heard saying, “And you say I like dosas. You come here, you tell the people of Tamil Nadu you like dosa, at the same time you say, you like dosa. You might like dosa, you might like vada also.” 

Sharing the video, one user disparagingly commented, “When you bring a buffoon like Rahul Gandhi to an election campaign, this is what you will get to hear.” This post amassed over 112,000 views and 1,500 likes at the time of writing. An archived version of the post can be accessed here.

Screenshot of the viral video. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim above is false. A video purportedly showing Gandhi criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "insulting" Tamil culture was manipulated to imply that he was speaking incoherently.

How did we find the truth?

Observing the viral video, we noted the presence of the “News18 Tamil Nadu” news channel logo in the corner, prompting further investigation. Subsequently, we traced the video back to Gandhi's election campaign rally in Coimbatore, where he shared the stage with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.

This speech was broadcast live on the channel's YouTube platform on April 12. At the 46:48-minute mark, Gandhi can be heard saying, “You come here, and you tell the people of Tamil Nadu you like dosa, and then you insult them, and you attack their culture, their history, their language. At the same time, you said you like dosa, and Tamil farmers are starving, Tamil youth are unemployed, and you destroy small and medium industries by carrying out demonetization and a flawed GST. For the first time in Indian history, farmers are paying tax.” 

He continues, “Modiji, you might like dosa, and you might like vada also, but that is not the issue here. Nobody cares whether you like dosa or vada. We care whether you like the Tamil language. We care whether you respect Tamil history, and we care about what you were doing for the future of this country and Tamil Nadu.” 

It is clear that Gandhi's discourse was a critique of PM Modi's alleged disregard for Tamil culture and interests, employing references to Tamilian cuisine merely as illustrative examples.

How was the viral video made?

Upon closer examination, it became evident that snippets extracted from Gandhi's speech between timestamps 46:48 and 48:28 were pieced together arbitrarily, distorting the context and fabricating the impression of nonsensical speech. This manipulated video was then shared to fuel the false narrative of Gandhi's supposed incoherence during his campaign address.

Furthermore, the rally was streamed live on MK Stalin’s YouTube channel, corroborating the authenticity of Gandhi's remarks. The specific segment in question spans from 45:58 minutes to 47:38 minutes.

According to a report by the Deccan Herald, Gandhi and Stalin indeed addressed an election rally in Coimbatore on April 12, wherein Gandhi criticized PM Modi's statements regarding South Indian cuisine and language.

The verdict

A video featuring Rahul Gandhi addressing a rally in Coimbatore was manipulated to propagate false claims about the Congress leader speaking incoherently in public. In the unaltered footage, Gandhi was actually condemning Modi for “insulting” Tamil culture. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.