A video clip of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi discussing the impact of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s victory in an election is widely circulating on social media ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The video is shared on Facebook with a caption: 40 साल पहले इन्दिरा की जीत ने देश की राजनीति को “बलात्कार” रख दिया?
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FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be MISLEADING.
Checking the video closely, the NM team noticed the background showing “Indian National Congress. 84th Plenary Session 2018.” With a keyword search on YouTube, we also found Sonia Gandhi’s speech from the same event on the Indian National Congress’ YouTube Channel, dated March 17, 2018. At the 3:40 minute mark, Sonia Gandhi can be heard saying, “40 years ago in Chikmagalur, after Indira Ji’s glorious victory overturned the politics of the nation, Congress regained its strength and became a powerful party again. I believe that in the next few months, in the Karnataka elections, our party will perform well again, and the politics of the country will get a new direction.”
According to The Indian Express, Sonia Gandhi praised the Congress party’s strength, drawing parallels between Indira Gandhi’s comeback in 1978 and Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. She called for unity under Rahul’s presidency to combat corruption and vendetta in India. Sonia urged Congress workers to spearhead a movement against the fear imposed by those in power. She criticised Modi’s slogans as mere theatrics to gain power and accused the BJP of not delivering on its promises. Sonia emphasised that the Congress is challenging the authoritarian Modi government and highlighted the increasing public disillusionment with the BJP’s unfulfilled commitments since 2014.
Thus, it is confirmed that Sonia Gandhi did not use the word “rape” in her statement about Indira Gandhi’s victory. She said “palatkar” (overturned) and not “balatkar” (rape). Therefore, the viral claim is misleading.
