By Hazel Gandhi
A snippet of an old interview of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the late nineties where he appears to be saying Hindutva is a playing card that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) uses during elections, is doctored and fake.
BOOM found that the video has been digitally altered to make the false claim.
In the viral video, Modi is seen speaking to an interviewer about Hindutva and appears to be saying, "Hindutva has never been an election slogan for the BJP. Hindutva is an article of faith for us...a card we use in the game of elections."
The clip was shared by verified X account Lubna Shiraz who describes herself as the Divisional Coordinator of Congress with the caption, "Hindutva is an article of faith for us, This is a playing card to win the election, Honorable Modi ji expressing his feelings!"
(Original text in Hindi: "हिंदुत्व हमारे लिए एक Article Of Faith है, ये चुनाव जीतने के लिए एक ताश का पता है माननिय मोदी जी अपनी भावनाओं को व्यक्त करते हुए !!!")
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Another verified account 'INDIA Alliance' shared the video with the caption, "Modi ji in Hindutva"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post is also circulating on Facebook. See here and here.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video has been altered to make the false claim and in the original video Modi said how Hindutva is "not" a mere playing card that the BJP uses for the sake of elections.
A reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video led us to a video story published by Zee News on September 17, 2022. The story celebrated the prime minister's 72nd birthday by sharing excerpts from his old interviews with the channel.
The original interview is from December 6, 1998 and the 10:00 mark shows the interviewer asking Modi about the BJP's Hindutva strategy and how it seems to be failing. To this, Modi says at the 10:28 mark, "Hindutva has never been an election slogan for the BJP. Hindutva is an article of faith for us, not a card to play the game of elections."
The word "not" ('nahi' in Hindi) has been removed from the viral clip to claim that Modi called Hindutva a playing card for the BJP.
The same interview was also shared on Zee News' YouTube channel on September 17, 2022. Watch the video from timestamp 10.27.
Click here for an archive.
