Congress MP Rahul Gandhi launched a 16-day, 1,300-km march across 20+ districts in Bihar protesting the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, framing it as a fight to protect one person, one vote and the Constitution. This rally is being called as Voter Jan Adhikar Yatra. The protest started on August 17.
In the above context, a video is widely being shared on social media in which Congress leader and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi is seen addressing a massive crowd from the rooftop of a bus.
The video is shared with a caption suggesting that the video is from Rahul Gandhi's Voter Jan Adhikar Yatra.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “People’s hero climbed onto the bus roof. Voter Rights Journey.” (Translated from Hindi)
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is old and is from Rahul Gandhi’s address at the Assam-Meghalaya border.
On a Google reverse image search, we found a similar video of Rahul Gandhi addressing the crowd while standing on the bus was shared by a YouTube channel, Timeline, on January 23, 2024. The video is shared with a caption suggesting that during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi addressed the students outside USTM University after authorities denied him entry.
We further found that the same video was shared by an X user on January 23, 2024, with a caption suggesting that Rahul Gandhi was supposed to hold an interaction with several hundred students at USTM university; however, after the Union HM’s involvement, his invitation was revoked. Hence, we can ascertain that the viral video is old.
We further found that the screenshot of the video was also shared by a news report on January 23, 2024.
The report associated with the image suggests that Rahul Gandhi accused the Home Minister of instructing Assam’s CM to block his meetings with students, claiming “efforts are being made to enslave students of the North East and India.” He urged students not to fear and to think freely.
We found the incident was also reported by ABP Live.
Therefore, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
