The post surfaced during India’s six-week parliamentary elections, the world’s largest democratic exercise.
Analysts expect an easy victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, thanks in large part to his aggressive championing of India’s Hindu majority faith – and a disparate opposition from more than two dozen parties.
Similar posts featuring the edited video were also shared elsewhere on X and on Facebook here and here.
Comments on the posts indicated that social media users believed the claim.
“If this fool already knows that Modi will win the elections, why is he running?” one person said.
“The people of the country know that Rahul Gandhi is a foolish leader and the destruction of the Congress party will certainly be in his hands,” said another.
But there were no official reports as of May 23, 2024 showing Gandhi saying the BJP will win the elections.
In reality, the video was edited from a speech in which he said the opposite.
Cut video
A keyword search on YouTube found Gandhi’s entire speech streamed live on his Congress party’s verified account on May 10, 2024 (archived link).
The description of the video states that it was shot in the city of Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It read: “Rahul Gandhi’s roar in Kanpur, this speech will undo the entire election! ‘Modi is gone… Goodbye, thank you.’
Below is a screenshot comparison of a frame from the edited clip (left) and the video uploaded on the Congress Party’s verified YouTube channel (right):
The edited video matches the portion of Gandhi’s speech beginning at 0:57 of the longer YouTube video.
But what he actually said was: “Narendra Modi will not be the Prime Minister of India. Get it in writing: Narendra Modi cannot be the Prime Minister of India” (archived link).
The word “not” has been removed from the circulating video.
Moreover, Gandhi’s actual comments at 1:41 in the video were: “We have done our best. Now you see, our alliance will not get a seat less than 50 in Uttar Pradesh.”
This part was also changed to give the impression that he said the opposition alliance “will not get a seat” in the state.
AFP has debunked more misinformation about the Indian general election here.
