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A news video clip of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari is viral on social media, with the claim that he referred to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi as a great leader.
In the video, Mr Gadkari is heard saying, "From a distance, I thought he was small, but upon getting closer, I realised he is very big." However, PTI Fact Check Desk's investigation found the viral claim to be false. The viral video is edited and users have combined two parts of the original video and shared it with misleading claims.
On social media platform 'X', a verified user shared the viral video on December 26, writing, "Anchor: How do you see Rahul Gandhi? Nitin Gadkari: From a distance, I thought he was small, but upon getting closer, I realised he is very big." After Mr Gadkari's response, a song starts playing.
To verify the claim, the desk conducted a reverse image search of the video's keyframes. During this, the team found a video uploaded on 'BBC News Hindi YouTube channel.' The original video containing the viral clip was uploaded on October 10, 2024. At the 26-minute mark, the anchor asks Mr Gadkari, "How do you see Rahul Gandhi?" Mr Gadkari replies, "I see everyone in a positive light." When the journalist further asks for his opinion on Mr Gandhi, Mr Gadkari responds, "This is my opinion about everyone." Further in the video, Mr Gadkari says, "There are many people, and I have been inspired by many. Let me conclude with one point. Coming to Delhi, I experienced meeting different kinds of people — cricketers, film actors, Bill Gates, and people from around the world. One thing I noticed was that the people I thought were very big from a distance seemed very small up close, and those I thought were small from a distance, turned out to be very big up close." This video was also shared by Mr Gadkari on his official YouTube account.
PTI Fact Check Desk's investigation clarifies that Mr Gadkari did not mention Mr Gandhi when he explained his own experiences of meeting different people. Social media users combined two different parts of the original video and shared the combined clip with the misleading claim.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News Agency staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)