Clip of Congress' Priyanka Gandhi at Chhattisgarh political rally altered to distort message

This article is more than one year old.
Published on October 13, 2023 at 04:52
3 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

Ahead of elections in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, a misleadingly edited video purportedly showing Priyanka Gandhi, a senior member of the Congress party, saying her party wanted power for self-serving reasons was shared hundreds of times in social media posts. While Gandhi did say Congress wanted power during a political rally in Chhattisgarh, she said her party wanted power to help people -- a distinction that was edited out of the clip.

"BIG BREAKING: Priyanka Gandhi spoke the truth during her speech and had to apologise to Congress leaders," reads the Hindi-language caption of a video that has been viewed more than 800 times on Facebook here since it was posted on September 23, 2023.

Gandhi is a general secretary of the Congress party (archived link).

In the 39-second-long video, Gandhi appears to say: "You all must have often thought that people are power-hungry, especially political leaders. And I have seen from my experience that there are many leaders who are only after more power. They are eager for it, they are ambitious. They want power for more respect, for more money, and to build big palaces.

"I am proud to say that in Chhattisgarh today, the leadership of the Congress party is of this kind."

Screenshot of the altered video on Facebook, captured on October 11, 2023

The video circulated ahead of assembly elections in five states, with voting to be held between November 7 and November 30 (archived link).

Voting in Chhattisgarh, where the Congress party is in power and where Gandhi addressed the rally, will take place on November 7 and November 17.

The altered clip was also shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here and here, and here on X, formerly Twitter.

Comments on the posts suggest some users believed Gandhi had criticised her party's leadership.

"At least the truth has come out. The Congress government is like this," reads one comment.

Another says: "Priyanka Gandhi spoke the truth but her slaves want the public to remain ignorant even after knowing the truth."

Altered campaign speech

A keyword search on YouTube led to a video uploaded on the official channel of the Congress party on September 21, 2023 (archived link).

The video is a recording of Gandhi addressing a crowd in Bhilai, a city in Chhattisgarh.

Below are screenshot comparisons of the altered clip (left) and the footage uploaded to YouTube (right):

Screenshot comparisons of the altered clip (left) and the footage uploaded to YouTube (right)

The section used in the altered clip begins at the YouTube video's 16:25 mark.

At the 16:57 mark, Gandhi makes a comment that has been edited out of the altered clip: "There’s also another type of leader who wants power because through that power they will be able to do good for the people."

The speech then returns to what is shown in the altered clip: "And I am proud to say that in Chhattisgarh today, the leadership of the Congress party is of this kind."

A final clarification -- "They use power for the welfare of all" -- has also been edited out of the altered clip.

Other Indian media outlets also uploaded videos of Gandhi's speech here and here (archived links here and here).

Local newspapers reported on the event here and here, and make no mention of Gandhi criticising her party for being power-hungry (archived links here and here).

AFP has previously debunked misinformation surrounding upcoming state elections in India here and here.

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