Video of Rahul Gandhi turning his back on the camera shared with misleading claims

Hyderabad: A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a book release event has gone viral on social media. It is being claimed that a journalist asked Mr. Gandhi to show the back of the book, but he misunderstood and instead turned around and showed his back to the camera.

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The video is being shared on Twitter as well.

This is not the first time such a video has surfaced online. Rahul Gandhi has earlier fallen prey to such fails on camera.

In the viral video, it can be clearly seen that Mr. Gandhi turns his back to the camera, however, the truth is different.

Let's debunk the claim.

Fact Check

NewsMeter performed a keyword search to find the full version of the video. We noticed that the audio is not available in the viral video.

We found the full version of the video on the official YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress (INC). The video is titled "Special press briefing by Shri Rahul Gandhi at AICC HQ" and is dated 19 January 2021. The video is from the same press release where Rahul Gandhi launched a booklet on the new farm laws called "Kheti Ka Khoon" and the viral video can be seen at the 2:07 minute mark.

On watching the full version of the video along with the audio, it is evident that Rahul Gandhi did not show his back to the camera when the journalist asked him to show the back of the booklet. Rather, we can see Mr. Gandhi turn around while saying, "See how fair we are. We are showing the booklet to each one of you. But if it was BJP, they would have shown the book in this manner by hiding it." He then proceeds to turn around.

It is clear that the video is actually not about showing his back to the camera but taking a dig at BJP leaders with his sarcastic comment.

The Hindu, 19 on January 2021, had also reported about the same event.

It is evident that the viral clip is edited. Rahul Gandhi did not show his back to the camera at an event. The video is misleading.