Hyderabad: A video containing two clips is circulating on social media with the claim that the chairperson of Congress party's social media and digital platforms, Supriya Shrinate, called Rahul Gandhi a "Dhongee Hindu" (imposter Hindu).
In the first clip, Shrinate can be heard saying, "Despite the priests' strong protest, the imposter Hindu hiding behind the Hindu dharma entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with cameras." The second clip shows Rahul Gandhi offering prayers at a temple.
A Twitter user, Shefali Vaidya, who supports BJP on Twitter, shared the video and wrote, "This is shocking! @SupriyaShrinate calling her boss @RahulGandhi a ढोंगी हिंदू! It is true, but to reveal the truth about your own leader like this publicly? Shocking!" (Archive)
Click here to see the post.
Several other prominent BJP supporters also shared the video with the same claim. Click here and here to see the posts.
Fact Check
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search of the video's keyframes and found the video of Rahul Gandhi offering prayers at a temple. The video was published by NDTV on 29 November 2022 and said Rahul Gandhi had offered prayers at Ujjain's Mahakal temple.
India Today had tweeted the same video on 30 November and said BJP slammed Rahul Gandhi for visiting Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain.
Further, we searched for Shrinate's clip and found an extended version of it posted on her official Facebook page on 11 November. The video shows her speaking at a debate on the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. At around the 1.30-minute mark, Shrinate says, "Despite the priests' strong protest, our Prime Minister, the imposter Hindu hiding behind the Hindu dharma, entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with cameras."
It is clear from this video that Shrinate had called PM Modi an imposter Hindu and not Rahul Gandhi.
The video of the debate was also published by Aaj Tak on 11 November 2021. At around the 3.40-minute mark, Shrinate can be heard calling PM Modi an "imposter Hindu."
It is evident that the two clips in the viral video have been taken from two different videos and merged to mislead the people. Hence, we conclude that Supriya Shrinate did not call Rahul Gandhi a "dhongee Hindu," and the claim is misleading.