Video shows Rahul Gandhi calling for forgiveness for office vandals, not sectarian murder suspects
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 11, 2022 at 08:31
- 3 min read
- By Uzair RIZVI, AFP India
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"I don't have any anger or hostility towards them. They have done a silly thing, so we should leave it at that," says Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the Indian National Congress party, in a video shared on Facebook on July 2.
"They are kids. I don't think they understand the consequences of these types of things, so I think we should be forgiving as far as they are concerned."
The video circulated online after the murder of a Hindu tailor over his support for an official who made controversial remarks about the Prophet Mohammed.
Thousands of people protested following the death of Kanhaiya Lal in the city of Udaipur, with many calling for the two Muslim men accused of killing him to be executed.
The Facebook post sharing the video reads: "Rahul Gandhi calls Udaipur puncturewalle terrorists as children who did a silly thing".
"Puncturewalle" is an anti-Muslim slur often used by right-wing Hindus in India.
The post claims Gandhi's Congress party is a "CANCER".
The video was shared alongside a similar claim in Facebook posts here and here.
However, Gandhi was talking about the students who vandalised his office, not the Udaipur murder suspects.
Edited video
A longer version of the video posted on YouTube on July 2 by local news channel News18 Kerala.
It is headlined: "Rahul Gandhi Office Attacked: "I have no anger towards the children who did this"; says Rahul Gandhi".
The attack on Gandhi's office on June 24 in Wayanad in the state of Kerala was widely reported, including by The Indian Express and The Hindustan Times.
Before he makes the remarks about forgiving the attackers, Gandhi says at the one-minute 14-second mark: "This is my office, but before being my office, it is the office of the people of Wayanad.
"However, the children who did this, I mean they are also children, so it's not fine. It's not a good thing to do, but they have acted in an irresponsible way.
"I don't have any anger or hostility towards them. They have done a silly thing, so we should leave it at that.
"They are kids. I don't think they understand the consequences of these types of things, so I think we should be forgiving as far as they are concerned."
Gandhi does not mention the suspects in the Udaipur murder case in the video.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in the misleading post (left) and the video posted by News18 Kerala (right):
Local media correction
The edited video of Gandhi shared in the misleading posts bears the logo of Zee News, an Indian Hindi-language news channel.
Rohit Ranjan, an anchor at the broadcaster, issued a correction and apology on his verified Twitter account on July 2.
The Hindi-language tweet translates to English as: "Yesterday, in our show DNA, Rahul Gandhi's statement was taken in the wrong context by linking it to the Udaipur incident, it was a human error for which our team is apologetic, and we apologise for it."
On June 28, Gandhi tweeted a statement condemning the incident but made no mention of the two suspects.
AFP found no official reports about Gandhi making comments on the Udaipur murder suspects.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us