Rahul Gandhi Ate With Mask On? BJP Leaders Shared Images And Videos With Illogical Claim

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently visited Golden Temple, Amritsar, to offer prayer. Now a video of the same event is going viral on social media. In the viral video, Rahul Gandhi can be seen sitting next to Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and State chief Navjot Singh Siddhu with a plate of food. He can be seen wearing a mask in the video. It is being claimed that Rahul Gandhi is eating with his mask on.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra mocked at Rahul Gandhi by tweeting, "मास्क पहन कर लंगर? ये तो आठवां अजूबा ही हो सकता है."

[English Translation: Langar with the mask on? Only the eight wonder of the world can do this.]

BJP Punjab official Twitter handle also shared the video with the same claim.

A Twitter user wrote a caption that reads, "Acting superstars doing lunger with empty plate and mask On. Insulting of gurudwara saheb. Always insulting and making fools to public, who asked them to fake acting in Gurunakaji temple."

BJP's Haryana IT cell chief Arun Yadav shared another image of Rahul Gandhi with a similar claim. In this image, Rahul Gandhi can be seen sitting in front of a plateful of food with his mask on. He wrote, "मास्क लगा कर खाना खाने वाला पहला आदमी."

[English Translation: The first person to eat with a mask on.]

It is being viral on Facebook and Twitter. Click here, here, here and here to see.

Claim:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ate food with a mask on.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral video and image were taken before he started eating food.

Video:

During the initial investigation, on doing a keyword search, we found the extended version of the viral video on the official YouTube channel of Congress uploaded on 27 January 2022. In the 10 second long video, we can see Rahul Gandhi eating a lunger along with CM Channi and Navjot Singh Siddhu. In this video, Rahul Gandhi and others can be seen wearing the same clothes as seen in the viral video.

We also found the still of the viral video in a report of Dainik Jagran dated 28 January 2022. According to the report, Rahul Gandhi reached Sri Harimandir Sahib and offered prayer. Rahul Gandhi had eaten langar in the Gurudwara. After that, Rahul paid homage to the martyrs at Jallianwala Bagh.

Congress leader Alka Lamba tweeted the extended version of the viral video and took a dig on Sambit Patra and ANI. She wrote that the video which is being viral is before he started eating langar.

Image:

On doing a google reverse image search, we found a similar image in a tweet of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. The tweet's caption reads in English, "It is a pleasure to have food with the loving and kind Tamil people. - President Rahul Gandhi] In this tweet, we can see three images in which Rahul Gandhi can be seen wearing a mask in one while in the other two, he can be seen eating (without a mask). It looks like the viral image was taken after or before he was eating the food.

On searching more, we found a video report of PuthiyathalaimuraiTV dated 24 January 2021 in which Rahul Gandhi is seen posing for photographs with a mask on before eating. He can be seen wearing the same outfit as seen in the viral image. At 25 seconds of timestamps, one can see Rahul Gandhi eating.

It is evident from our investigation that the viral claim is false. Rahul Gandhi had langar at Gurdwara Sahib along with other party members, and the viral video was taken before he started eating langar. Also, in the viral image, Rahul has the mask on while interacting with people, however, he removes it before eating. It was falsely shared by the BJP party and its member to mock Rahul Gandhi.

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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