Did Rahul Gandhi Refuse To Perform Aarti? No, Viral Video Is Edited

A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is going viral on social media linking it to the ongoing Navratri festival. In the viral video, some people can be seen doing aarti. After performing the aarti, the person standing to the right of Rahul Gandhi passes the aarti plate to the other person ignoring Rahul Gandhi standing in the middle. Linking it to Bharat Jodo Yatra, people on social media claimed Rahul Gandhi refused to perform the aarti of Maa Durga during his India Jodo Yatra.

A Twitter user shared this video and wrote, "The way Rahul Gandhi denied to take Aarti and perform the rituals... He again proved from which commun!ty he belongs. #Navratri #BharatTodoYatra."

Another user wrote, "क्या राहुल गांधी ने जानबूझ कर आरती करने से मना कर दिया है या वह नहीं जानता कि कैसे करना है या मान्यताएँ अनुमति नहीं देती हैं ??"

[English Translation: Has Rahul Gandhi deliberately refused to perform the aarti or does he not know how to do it or his beliefs did not allow it??]

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Claim:

A viral video shows Rahul Gandhi refused to perform Aarti.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral video is clipped. In the original video, Rahul Gandhi is seen performing aarti.

During the initial, we used InVid's Keyframe Analysis tool to isolate the keyframes of the viral video. We then conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes and came across a tweet by India Today journalist Supriya Bhardwaj on 27 September 2017. In the video, one can see the extended and clearer version of the viral video. Rahul Gandhi can be seen performing aarti in the initial frame of the video. It is being intentionally cut and shared with a misleading claim.

On searching more, we found the same video shared by Congress leader Jitendra Patwari. According to the information given in the tweet, viral video is from an event in Rajkot, Gujarat. Rahul Gandhi can be seen performing the aarti. After this, he passed the plate to Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. This part of the video has been edited and removed.

News agency ANI and Rahul Gandhi also shared the stills of the same event on Twitter. Here, Rahul Gandhi can be seen holding the aarti plate. While sharing the tweet, ANI wrote, "Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi attended a Garba event in Gujarat's Rajkot last night."

Conclusion:

It is evident from our investigation that the viral video is clipped. The original video is from 2017. In the video, Rahul Gandhi performed the aarti and passed it to Rajasthan's CM Ashok Gehlot. This part was intentionally cut and shared with a false claim.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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