The Congress party, alongside other Opposition parties, has been advocating for a caste census. They have pledged that if the INDIA alliance wins 2024 elections, it will carry out a caste census along with a financial survey to assess the ground realities. Meantime, a clip of Rahul Gandhi at a rally, saying an ‘X-ray means caste census’ has surfaced on social media.
A Facebook user posted with a caption: Joke of the month, “X-Ray means caste census”. 😂😂
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found the viral video edited and selectively cropped to mock the Congress leader, taking his statement out of context.
Running a Reverse Image Search of the video keyframes, the NM team traced a longer version of the viral clip on the Indian National Congress YouTube channel, dated February, 19,2024, with a caption: अमेठी में खड़े होकर राहुल गांधी ने बदल दिया यूपी का माहौल, धमाकेदार भाषण। Rahul Gandhi | Amethi | UP (English translation: Standing in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi changed the atmosphere of UP, gave a explosive speech. Rahul Gandhi Amethi | UP). From the timestamp of 16 minutes onward, Gandhi elaborates on his interpretation of the caste census and shares his perspective on how it could potentially benefit backward castes.
Gandhi can be heard saying, “I said that everyone has to be counted. How many poor general caste people are there in this country? How much power do they have in their hands, how many backward people are there in this country? Which castes are there, how much wealth do they have, and how much wealth do tribals and Dalits have? Meaning, like caste census, if someone gets hurt then the first thing to do is…today one of our security personnel’s feet came under the car. The first thing we said was that brother should go and get an X-ray done. X-ray means caste census.”
The beginning portion, where Gandhi clarifies the concept of a caste census, has been removed from the viral video. This edited clip falsely implies that he told his security personnel that an X-ray means caste census.
We also found multiple reports and found that Gandhi has been discussing the caste census and drawing parallels with obtaining an X-ray since last year, particularly before the assembly elections in five states such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Hence, we can conclusively say that a viral video of Rahul Gandhi at a rally saying an ‘X-ray means caste census’ is cropped and is being shared out of context on social media platforms to mock the Congress leader.
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