An edited video of a speech at India’s parliament has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in social media posts that falsely claimed it showed how opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was stumped by a question about the country’s constitution. Gandhi, however, was not in the chamber when the question — about the number of pages in the document — was posed by a ruling party parliamentarian.
“Rahul Gandhi could not say how many pages there are in the constitution. This is called giving one a taste of their own medicine,” read part of the Hindi-language caption of a video shared on X on July 2, 2024.
The video, which was viewed hundreds of thousands of times, shows ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Anurag Singh Thakur saying in Hindi: “How many pages are there in the constitution? How many? Don’t show me through gestures, tell me how many pages are there? You roam around waving it… open it and read it someday.”
His remarks are interspersed with clips appearing to show Gandhi standing in silence.
The same video was also shared elsewhere on X as well as on Facebook.
It was shared as parliament convened for its first session since a national election that deprived the BJP of a parliamentary majority and forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rely on coalition allies to govern (archived link).
Gandhi — a scion of a dynasty that has already given India three prime ministers — defied analysts’ expectations and exit polls to help his Congress party nearly double its parliamentary numbers and secure his position as leader of India’s opposition.
The post had been vacant for a decade because two dismal election results for Congress — once India’s dominant party — left it short of a requirement that the opposition leader come from a party that commands at least 10 percent of the lawmakers in the 543-seat Lok Sabha, parliament’s lower house.
Gandhi had regularly brandished the constitution at election rallies, warning that Modi’s BJP wanted to drastically change the text to support its Hindu nationalist politics.
Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah rebuffed the accusation, telling local broadcaster NDTV the BJP government did not plan to change the constitution (archived link).
The video circulating on social media, however, has been edited. Gandhi was not in the chamber when Thakur made his remarks.
Manipulated video
A keyword search led to the original video posted on the official YouTube channel of public broadcaster Sansad TV on July 1, 2024 (archived link).
The video is titled, “Anurag Thakur’s Remarks | Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in 18th Lok Sabha”.
The address, given by the president to both houses of parliament at the first session after a general election, lays out the government’s agenda for the year.
The President of India addresses both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha at the beginning of the first Session after each general election. The President’s speech essentially highlights the government’s policy priorities and plans for the upcoming year. The address provides a broad framework of the government’s agenda and direction.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the edited video (left) and the Sansad TV video (right):
The edited video corresponds to footage from the Sansad TV video’s 56:36 mark.
But — unlike what is seen in the edited video — Gandhi is not in his seat on the front row of the opposition benches when they are shown at the 56:47 mark.
Opposition walkout
Gandhi can be seen briefly at the 28-second mark of Thakur’s speech, asking the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to “allot a day for discussion on NEET after the President’s address”.
He was referring to suspicions that exam papers for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) had been leaked, affecting the integrity of the nationwide medical entrance exam (archived link).
The Speaker then asks Gandhi to submit a notice first, before calling on Thakur to continue.
After Thakur resumes his speech, at the 3:16 mark, the opposition is shown leaving the chamber.
Local media outlet On Manorama also reported on the opposition walkout (archived link).
The shots of Gandhi used in the edited video were taken from his own speech on the same day, at the 19:02 and 19:06 marks (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the shots of Gandhi used in the edited video (left) and in the Sansad TV video (right):
AFP has debunked other false claims about Gandhi, who is a frequent target of misinformation in India.
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