Old video of Kashmiri woman speaking to Rahul Gandhi shared with false context

What is the claim?

A viral video of a woman speaking to Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is circulating online accompanied by a claim that the woman is confronting him with accusations of neglecting issues faced by Kashmiri Hindus as well as an "anti-India" stance opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies regarding Kashmir.

In the viral video, the woman can be heard saying, "Our children have not been able to move out of their houses. My brother is a heart patient who went out to look for his children but his family was not able to find him for ten days, and we are in a difficult situation."

One X (formerly Twitter) user shared the video and wrote, "Kashmiri Pandits living abroad surrounded Rahul Gandhi during his flight and asked him why he opposes Modi on Kashmir issues..? Rahul Gandhi could not give any answer to this, national media could hardly show this news..!!" (Translated from Hindi)

At the time of this story, the post had amassed over 537,000 views and more than 19,000 likes. Archived versions of these posts can be found here, here, and here. 

The viral video (archived here) was also shared by the State General Secretary for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chandigarh Amit Jindal with a similar claim.

Screenshot of similar claims posted on social media (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that the video dates back to August 2019, and shows a woman recounting her ordeal following the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

What are the facts?

Through relevant keyword searches, we found multiple videos and news reports (archived here and here) about the incident that emerged in August 2019. 

An India Today report from August 25, 2019, titled, “How long will this continue: Priyanka Gandhi after Kashmiri woman's video in Srinagar flight goes viral” indicates that a video of a Kashmiri woman went viral after being shared by a Congress spokesperson. In the video, the woman is depicted narrating the impact of the abrogation of Article 370 and on the lives of Kashmiris amid restrictions imposed in the region in the aftermath of the decision.

Screenshot of a news report (Source: India Today/Modified by Logically Facts)

The report also stated that the Kashmiri woman was travelling on the same flight as Gandhi from Srinagar to Delhi. A delegation of 12 other opposition leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, KC Venugopal, were returning from Srinagar after being denied entry into the valley. The delegation had travelled to Kashmir to observe the ground situation following the abrogation.

We also found the same video (archived here) embedded in the India Today news report, an X post reshared (archived here) by Priyanka Gandhi on August 25, 2019, stating, “How long is this going to continue? This is one out of millions of people who are being silenced and crushed in the name of “Nationalism”. For those who accuse the opposition of ‘politicising’ this issue”

In the video (archived here), the woman can be heard saying, “Our children have not been able to move out of their houses. My brother is a heart patient who went out to look for his children but his family was not able to find him for 10 days, I tried to take my brother with me but he was not allowed to come.” Nowhere, at any instance in the video can the woman be heard saying anything about Kashmiri Pandits - a minority in the region - or Modi’s policies related to Kashmir. 

The verdict

The video originally shows a Kashmiri woman narrating the sufferings of people in Kashmir during the restrictions in the region following the revocation of Article 370 in 2019. It does not show accusing Rahul Gandhi about his stance on Kashmir Hindus or for "opposing Modi on Kashmir issues."