India TV Fact Check: Amid the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, a video is going viral on social media with claims that a woman, who is a Kashmiri Pandit, is questioning the Congress leader over his opposition to Prime Minister Modi regarding Kashmir-related issues. However, when India TV fact-checked this video it was confirmed that the video is old.
What is the claim?
Some social media users are sharing a video of a teary-eyed woman seemingly confronting Rahul Gandhi on an airplane with claims that she was a Kashmiri Pandit living abroad who questioned the Congress leader for opposing the PM over Kashmir's matters. A viral video of a woman speaking to the Congress leader can be heard saying, "Our children have not been able to move out of their houses. My brother is a heart patient who went out to look for his children but his family was not able to find him for ten days, and we are in a difficult situation."
An X user shared the viral video on and wrote, "Kashmiri Pandits living abroad surrounded @RahulGandhi while he was travelling in an airplane and asked him why he opposes Modi on Kashmir issues..? Rahul Gandhi could not give any answer to this, national media is unlikely to show this news. #BigBillionDaysLeaked #Paracetamol".
India TV did investigation
As the video was going viral on social media, we decided to investigate this claim. We conducted a Google Open Search with relevant keywords and found the news article on the India TV website titled "Kashmiri woman shares Jammu & Kashmir's ordeal with Rahul Gandhi on flight".
In the news article it was mentioned, "Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi was taken aback when a Kashmiri woman started narrating her ordeal to him and other Opposition leaders onboard the flight they were travelling back to Delhi from Srinagar, after denied entry to the city. The video of the incident was shared on Twitter by Congress spokesperson Radhika Khera in which a Kashmiri woman is seen narrating how the lives of people had been affected after the abrogation of Article 370 and lockdown in the Valley."
On further investigation, we found Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several other Congress leaders had also shared the same video on social media platform X.
What came out in fact check?
A fact check by India TV confirmed that the viral video of a woman confronting Rahul Gandhi is originally from August 24, 2019. At that time, Gandhi, along with other leaders, attempted to visit Srinagar but was prevented from leaving the airport and had to return to Delhi. The woman in the video approached him on the airplane to express concerns about the conditions in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. The video is unrelated to the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. Users are advised to be cautious of such videos.
Also Read: Fact Check: Has India finally received Veto Power at UNSC? Know truth behind viral claim
