A video of Rahul Gandhi making a mathematical miscalculation is viral online with users ridiculing the Congress leader for the apparent mistake. In the video, he is heard saying, “How many?… tell me… 50.. 15.. how many? 73…”. Verified user @rupen_chowdhury tweeted the video and garnered close to 200000 views. (Archive)
50+15=73 😎😎 pic.twitter.com/otSOte9PBS
— 🇮🇳 Rupen Chowdhury 🚩 (@rupen_chowdhury) February 9, 2024
Another verified user @thakurbjpdelhi also tweeted the video. (Archive)
50+15 = 73 😎 pic.twitter.com/b0Ccv5ompE
— Sandeep Thakur (@thakurbjpdelhi) February 10, 2024
Several other users also tweeted the same video. (Archives- 1, 2, 3)
Fact Check
We found that the clip has been taken from Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Chhattisgarh where he had addressed a crowd as part of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The viral clip has been heavily altered. The original speech is available on the Indian National Congress’s official YouTube channel. The relevant portion, which starts at 17:40 , shows Gandhi speaking about a journalist at a press conference in Odisha who asked Rahul Gandhi if the caste census would create a further divide in society.
Gandhi then speaks about the percentages of the people belonging to Other Backwards Castes, Dalits and Adivasis in the society, stating that each group takes up 50%, 15% and 8% of the total population. He then says, “50+15+8 is 73… If 73% are not getting anything, they are not represented in the media, and they are not in the biggest 200 corporates, neither in PMO, nor in the bureaucrats, or private hospitals. No schools or universities are in their hands. How can Bharat be unified?”
It is evident that in the viral video, the 8% figure has been edited out. The official X handle of the Indian National Congress also tweeted the relevant portion of the video.
मुझसे एक पत्रकार ने पूछा कि “राहुल जी, आप जाति जनगणना और हक की बात कर रहे हैं, तो क्या इससे देश नहीं बंट रहा है?”
मैंने जवाब में उनसे पूछा कि “मीडिया में, कितने अखबारों के मालिक पिछड़े, दलित,आदिवासी वर्ग से हैं?- वह चुप हो गया।
मैंने कहा कि देश में करीब 50% OBC, 15% दलित, 8%… pic.twitter.com/Yew8nuoOZY
— Congress (@INCIndia) February 8, 2024
Hence, an altered video purportedly showing Rahul Gandhi making a simple mathematical miscalculation by saying 50+15=73 is viral online. Alt News found that a figure “8” was also included by Gandhi in the addition, which has been edited out.
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