A video of Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has gone viral on social media. It is being claimed that he has threatened Hindus and vowed action against them once the BJP government is removed.
In the viral clip, Gandhi can be heard saying: तो उनको यह भी सोचना चाहिए, जो भी वह कर रहे हैं कि किसी न किसी दिन बीजेपी की सरकार बदलेगी। और फिर कार्रवाई होगी। और ऐसी कार्रवाई होगी कि मैं गारंटी करता हूं यह फिर से कभी नहीं होगा। (English version: “They should also consider that whatever they are doing, one day the BJP government will change. And then there will be action. And such action will be taken that I guarantee it will never happen again.”)
The caption with one such post reads: जब बीजेपी की सरकार हटेगी फिर हिन्दुओं के खिलाफ, ऐसी कार्यवाही होगी… इटालियन मंदबुद्धि बालक की देशवासियों को खुली धमकी। क्या इस पर चुनाव आयोग कोई कार्रवाई करेगा? (English version: “When the BJP government is removed, there will be action against Hindus which they can’t even imagine. An open threat by the Italian dim-witted boy. Will the Election Commission act on this?”)
The above post can be seen here (archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be Misleading.
Performing a Reverse Image Search of the video keyframes, the NM team identified the original, unedited version of the video, posted on Rahul Gandhi’s official X handle on March 29, 2024.
जब सरकार बदलेगी तो ‘लोकतंत्र का चीरहरण’ करने वालों पर कार्रवाई ज़रूर होगी!
और ऐसी कार्रवाई होगी कि दोबारा फिर किसी की हिम्मत नहीं होगी, ये सब करने की।
ये मेरी गारंटी है।#BJPTaxTerrorism pic.twitter.com/SSkiolorvH
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 29, 2024
In this longer version, Gandhi is clearly speaking about the alleged misuse of investigative agencies — not Hindus. The original script says: “If the CBI and ED had done their job, none of this would have happened… They should think about what they are doing, because one day the BJP government will be gone. And then, action will be taken — such that no one dares to repeat this again.”
A quick keyword search brought us to credible media reports by Hindustan, NDTV, and ABP News Live, all dated March 29, 2024.
The context: Gandhi was responding to a ₹1,823 crore notice issued by the Income Tax Department to the Congress party. The notice, which includes interest and penalties, pertains to the financial years 2017-18 to 2020-21 — and arrived just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, aggravating the party’s financial woes.
Gandhi, in his address, criticised what he called “tax terrorism” by the ruling BJP and emphasised that when the government changes, those responsible for “subverting democracy” will face consequences — not any particular community or religion.
Thus, we can conclusively say that the viral video of Rahul Gandhi has been selectively edited and stripped of context to push a communal and misleading narrative.
