On February 6, 2021, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi declared Charanjit Singh Channi as the Chief Minister face of the party in Punjab.
In this backdrop, a video of Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu has gone viral on social media where he can be seen taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi. He can be heard saying, “Hi Rahul Baba, go to school and learn the difference between nationalism and treason.”
The link to the post can be seen here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile did a fact-check and found the claim to be misleading.
On closely observing the video, we can see BJP’s logo, i.e; Lotus, in the background. According to a report by The Economic Times, Sidhu was in BJP and later switched to Congress party in 2017.
We further searched with the keyword, “rahul baba school jao aur rashtravad mein fark seekho, sidhu” and found the same video uploaded by India TV on October 8, 2010. According to the report, the video was from Sidhu’s rally ahead of Gujarat Municipal Corporation Elections in 2010. The description associated with the video read, “Cricketer-turned-politician and BJP MP, Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Wednesday asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to go to school following the latter’s comments equating the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).”If Rahul baba says that there is no difference between SIMI and RSS, he should go to school and learn the difference between nationalism and sedition,” Sidhu said while addressing a public election meeting at Khokhara in the city on Wednesday evening.”
A report by The Times of India suggested that Sidhu supported Congress’ decision of making Channi as CM face in Punjab. The report also quoted Sidhu who said, “During 17 years of a political career, Sidhu never lived for any post, but always wanted Punjab’s betterment and improvement in lives of its people,” said Sidhu at a virtual rally in Ludhiana.”
Hence, an old video of the 2010 Gujarat Municipal Election rally when Sidhu was in BJP, has gone viral with a misleading claim that he is taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi after Channi was declared Congress’ CM face in Punjab.
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