By Hazel Gandhi
An old video of Rahul Gandhi talking about how Bharat Mata (Mother India) is an "unparliamentary word" is viral online with a false claim that Gandhi made the statement recently. BOOM found that the viral claims are misleading and shared out of context. Gandhi made the remark in irony.
The 16-second clip shows Gandhi leaving a session of the Lok Sabha and in his statement to reporters says, "Apparently Bharat Mata is an unparliamentary word nowadays."
Reports about G20 dignitaries receiving invitations for the summit from the 'President of Bharat' as opposed to the usual 'President of India' led to speculations about the central government's plans to propose changing India's name to Bharat permanently.
The clip of Gandhi is going viral in this context to claim that he said Bharat was an unparliamentary word. A caption on X reads, "Bharat Mata ki Jai is an unparliamentary word for this idiot, PM aspirant."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the clip has been shared out of context and Gandhi made the statement in irony after parts of his speech in a session of the Lok Sabha were expunged.
We ran a keyword search about the incident and found reports from August, including this one by India Today published on August 10, 2023 titled ''Bharat Mata' apparently unparliamentary now: Rahul Gandhi on his deleted remarks'
The report detailed how Rahul Gandhi made the statement after reporters questioned him about some parts of his speech being expunged. Gandhi's Congress party along with backing from the newly-formed INDIA alliance filed the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the BJP in late July, demanding the central government to address the violence in Manipur.
The three-day debate began on August 8, where several members of the INDIA alliance accused the BJP of turning a blind eye to Manipur, demanding to know why CM Biren Singh was not removed from his post, and why PM Modi had not visited Manipur yet, among other scathing remarks.
The BJP replied by taking a dig at the INDIA bloc's name, calling it a 'Ghamandiya Alliance' (Hindi for greedy) and claimed that the no-confidence motion was brought up at the "wrong time and the wrong place" to tarnish India's global image. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also spoke about the developments brought about by the BJP during its tenure.
Rahul Gandhi opened the debate on the second day and accused the BJP of "murdering Bharat Mata in Manipur". This part of his speech, along with other parts where Gandhi addressed speaker Om Birla did not reflect in the Lok Sabha records the following night. Other words used by Gandhi such as 'hatya' and 'katl' were also removed.
The following day, on the last day of the debate, which is also when PM Modi attended the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi was seen leaving just before the PM replied to the motion. It was during this time where he was stopped by reporters and questioned about his speech being expunged in Lok Sabha records. To this, he responded and said, "Apparently, Bharat Mata is an unparliamentary word nowadays," sarcastically explaining the reason for parts of his speech being expunged.
A Hindustan Times report published on August 10 stated that he returned while the PM was speaking.
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