██FR█████ █INTELL███████████

Rahul Gandhi did not visit flood relief camp in Assam’s Fulertal; false reports by PTI, ANI & mainstream media outlets

Several media outlets reported on July 8 that Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had visited a flood relief camp in Assam’s Fulertal and heard the grievances of the affected people.

News agencies ANI and PTI published reports with images of Rahul Gandhi at a camp surrounded by some people.

ANI captioned the image as “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visits flood-affected victims at relief camp in Fulertal (X/@INCIndia).” PTI in its report alluded to a tweet by Rahul Gandhi where he extended his support towards victims of the Assam floods, and wrote that Gandhi had visited a flood-relief camp at Fulertal in the Cachar district of Assam.

Click to view slideshow.

News outlets such as The Hindu, NDTV, The Times of India, The Indian Express, India Today, Deccan Chronicle, The Week, Zee News and several others published reports of Rahul Gandhi apparently meeting flood-affected people in a relief camp in Assam’s Fulertal.

Click to view slideshow.

Congress MP K C Venugopal also tweeted the same images of Rahul Gandhi inside a camp and wrote that Gandhi had visited flood victims in Assam. (Archive)

Fact Check

Since ANI had cited the Indian National Congress’s X handle as its source for the photo, we looked for the same and came across the concerned tweet. 

It contained the images used in the media reports. However, @INCIndia wrote in the tweet: “Leader of Opposition Shri @RahulGandhi met refugees of Manipur violence at a relief camp in Assam.

📍 Phulertal, Assam”

There is no mention of flood victims in the tweet.

A video with the same visuals was also shared on Rahul Gandhi’s official Instagram page. The caption mentioned: “Dear people of Manipur, I come to you as your brother. I will do everything I can to bring back peace to all your lives. Mohabbat will lead us to a solution – I’m sure of it.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Rahul Gandhi (@rahulgandhi)

The woman seen in the images used in the reports is visible in the thumbnail as well as in the video proper.

We spoke to a journalist of a national English daily based in Cachar district. He told Alt News, “There is no flood relief camp in Fulertal. Rahul Gandhi visited two camps here, both inhabited by refugees from adjoining Manipur district. The photo that has been used by many outlets is from one of these camps in Lakhipur block.”

To sum up, the reports that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Assam flood victims at a relief camp in Cachar district are false. Photos from his visit to a relief camp for victims of Manipur violence were falsely used by media outlets.

Incidentally, a team of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee led by president Bhupen Borah had submitted a memorandum to Rahul Gandhi on July 8 urging him to take up the issue of Assam floods in Parliament. This was tweeted from Assam Congress’s official X handle, but there was no mention of Gandhi meeting flood victims.

Rahul Gandhi, too, tweeted about this. This is the tweet PTI mentioned in its report. However, there was no mention of him meeting the flood-hit people.

The post Rahul Gandhi did not visit flood relief camp in Assam’s Fulertal; false reports by PTI, ANI & mainstream media outlets appeared first on Alt News.


This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.