Fact Check: Did public confront PM Modi on inflation?
A video of a group of people with huge loudspeakers is viral on social media. We can hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s voice asking some questions.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 28 April 2022 12:15 PM IST
Hyderabad: A video of a group of people with huge loudspeakers is viral on social media. We can hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi's voice asking some questions.
"Have you benefited or not?" On this, the people in the crowd start moving their hands up and answer, "No". The second question, "Petrol prices have come down or not?" People say, "Not done". The next question is, "Have you started saving some money in your pocket or not?" Even after hearing this people say, "No".
Users claim that when PM Modi asked these questions about inflation in a recent meeting, the public gave him a blunt answer without any fuss.
The caption along the viral video read, "People are responding with full force to Modi Ji. Are you listening to Modi Ji? #PriceHike"
Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter began its investigation by watching the video carefully. We can see 'Shekhar Sound Dhule' written in big letters on the loudspeaker. Dhule is a district of Maharashtra. Similarly, the election symbol of Congress =hand- is also visible in the video. Also, the logo of 'Hindustan Petroleum' is visible in the background.
On searching with the help of Marathi keywords, we found a picture similar to this video for a report published on the Marathi news website 'Saam TV' on April 25, 2022. According to the report, this video is of a Congress protest against inflation, which was led by Kunal Patil, MP from Dhule Rural Area.
Maharashtra Congress Committee President Nana Patole also posted a clearer version of the video on Twitter on April 25, 2022. Along with this, a caption was written in Marathi, which translated as, "Dhule Congress workers agitating against inflation."
After knowing the veracity of the video, we started investigating the audio of PM Modi's questions. On keyword search, we first found the excerpt of PM Modi's speech in a YouTube video asking the same questions. The video was uploaded on February 01, 2015.
We lastly found the complete video of PM Modi's speech on his official YouTube channel on February 02, 2015. In the video of this program, Kiran Bedi and many veteran leaders of the BJP are seen sitting.
The audio of PM Modi's viral video can be heard here from 13:00 minutes. After asking questions about inflation in the public, PM said, "Now our opponents say that this is Modi's luck, that's why it happened. Now tell me that you want the lucky one or you need less luck. Let's assume that he is lucky, but the money is not left in your pocket. If Modi's luck is useful to the people of the country, then what is the matter of better luck than this."
After this, the people sitting in the audience gallery start shouting 'Modi-Modi'.
Hence, it is therefore evident that the claim made is False. It is a video of a Congress sit-in in the Dhule district of Maharashtra. Seven-year clip of PM Modi's questions was played on the loudspeaker.
