May 22nd 2024.
A video has been circulating on social media, supposedly showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a remark about President Droupadi Murmu's skin color. However, this video has been doctored and taken out of context. Let's take a closer look at the facts.
In May of 2024, during an interview with The Statesman, former chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda, made a comment about India's diversity, comparing different regions to various races. This comment sparked criticism and the Congress party distanced themselves from it. Pitroda eventually resigned from his position.
A cropped video, only 15 seconds long, has been making the rounds on social media, claiming that Modi called President Murmu dark-skinned and therefore, she should be defeated. This video has been taken from a longer speech Modi gave, in which he actually criticizes Pitroda for his alleged racist remarks. In the full speech, Modi claims that the Congress party opposed Murmu's candidature because of her skin color.
The longer video, posted on the BJP's official YouTube channel, shows Modi addressing the issue at hand. He mentions an uncle in America who is the philosophical guide of the Congress party's "Shehzada" (referring to Rahul Gandhi), and how this "Shehzada" takes advice from him. Modi then goes on to say that this "philosophical uncle" believes that those with black skin are from Africa, implying that this is an insult to many people in India.
He then makes the connection that Congress must have assumed Murmu to be African based on her skin color and that is why they opposed her. However, this part of the speech has been edited out of the viral video, falsely claiming that Modi himself called Murmu dark-skinned.
It is important to fact-check and not believe everything we see on social media. The full speech can be seen on the BJP's YouTube channel, debunking the false claim made by the viral video. This story was originally published by Boom and has been republished by OrissaPOST as part of the Shakti Collective.
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