Credit: PTI Fact Check
A video of Union Minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari speaking at a rally was recently shared on social media, with users claiming he said “he would kick PM Modi”. The PTI Fact Check Desk’s investigation found the claim to be false. In the video, Gadkari said that he would kick any politician who talks about caste (to get votes), but did not name any particular individual or party. A selected portion of the speech was shared on social media with a false claim.
Claim:
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on November 8 a video of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari speaking at a rally, claiming that he made objectionable remarks against PM Modi.
Here is the link and archive link to the post and below is a screenshot of the same:
Investigation:
The Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found a few keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found that the same video was shared by several other social media users with similar claims.
Two such posts can be seen here and here, and their archived versions can be viewed here and here respectively.
On further scanning the search results, we came across the full video of the speech uploaded on Nitin Gadkari’s official YouTube channel. It was a YouTube Live, which was streamed on his channel on November 7, 2024.
The title of the video read, ”📍Nagpur | Live from Inauguration of BJP🪷 Election Office of North Nagpur Assembly Constituency”
Here is the link and archive link to the video and below is a screenshot of the same:
On watching the video carefully, the Desk found that the viral clip shared on social media was taken from 17:13 timestamp onwards.
The Desk then listened to his full speech to verify the claim shared in the viral social media posts, but did not find him making any mention of PM Modi or any other individual, when he said that he would kick anyone who talks about caste.
Here is a transcript of the part of the speech where he talked about caste: “मैं तो बहुत साफ़ हूँ, डरता नहीं हूँ किसी से. यह नेता लोग जो होते हैं जो काम पर चुन कर नहीं आते वो जात की बात करते हैं आकर.... मैं फलाना जाती च। ... हमारे पास कोई जाती नहीं है, मैं कहता हूँ जो करे जात की बात, उसको कसके मारूंगा लात. मैं नागपुर का हूँ और नागपुर की जनता मेरा परिवार है. जो मुझे वोट देगा उसका भी काम करूँगा, नहीं देगा उसका भी करूँगा। मुझे वोट नहीं मिलने से फरक नहीं पड़ता।”
A rough English translation of the transcript reads, “I am very clean, I am not afraid of anyone. These politicians who are not elected for their work, come and talk about caste… I am from such and such caste… We do not have any caste, I say whoever talks about caste, I will kick him hard. I am from Nagpur and the people of Nagpur are my family. I will work for those who vote for me, and I will also work for those who do not vote for me. It does not matter to me if I do not get votes.”
He then proceeded to talk about the health facilities he and his party members have provided to the people.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that a selected portion of Gadkari’s speech was shared on social media with a false claim.
CLAIM
Nitin Gadkari made an objectionable remark against PM Modi at a public event.
FACT
Nitin Gadkari said he would kick anyone who talks about caste (uses caste politics to garner votes). He did not name PM Modi or any other individual while making the comment.
CONCLUSION
Multiple social media users shared a video of Nitin Gadkari speaking at a rally, and claimed that he made a remark against PM Modi. In its investigation, the Desk found that a selected portion of Gadkari’s public speech was shared on social media with a false claim.
Disclaimer: This story was originally published by PTI Fact Check, and republished by Deccan Herald as part of the Shakti Collective.