A video purportedly showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he would remove poverty from the country in one stroke is circulating on social media. Users sharing the clip are claiming that Modi made the statement himself and are mocking him over the alleged remark.
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NM VERIFIED
NewsMobile verified the claim and found that the video is cropped and shared out of context.
The NM team initiated its verification by running keyframes from the viral video through a reverse image search and found the original footage on the official YouTube channel of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The video was uploaded on April 14, 2024, and shows PM Modi addressing a public meeting in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.
A review of the full video showed that the viral clip is taken from Modi’s speech after the 30:27-minute mark. In the original footage, Modi was referring to a statement made by then Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and was not claiming that he would remove poverty himself.
While addressing the gathering, Modi said that the Congress had made an announcement that even its leaders could not understand. He then referred to the statement by the “prince of Congress” and said that he had announced that poverty would be removed from the country in one stroke. Modi followed this by questioning whether people would trust such a promise.
Further investigation led to the original statement by Rahul Gandhi. A video shared by ET Now on April 12, 2024, shows Gandhi speaking about the Congress’ proposed financial assistance to women living below the poverty line. He said that women would receive Rs 1 lakh annually in their bank accounts and that this would help eradicate poverty in India in one stroke.
The viral video removes the context in which Modi was referring to Gandhi’s statement and makes it appear as though Modi himself was promising to eliminate poverty in one stroke.
Hence, it is evident that the viral video is cropped and edited. PM Modi was referring to Rahul Gandhi’s statement about eradicating poverty and did not make the claim attributed to him in the viral clip.
