New Delhi: As Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and supporters led a Twitter war against a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in what purported to be a nightclub, India Today has reported that the claim that Gandhi was with a Chinese ambassador is false.
BJP’s social media department head Amit Malviya and Union minister Giriraj Singh were among those who tweeted the video.
“Rahul Gandhi was at a nightclub when Mumbai (in 2008) was under seize (sic). He is at a nightclub at a time when his party is exploding. He is consistent. Interestingly, soon after the Congress refused to outsource their presidency, hit jobs have begun on their Prime Ministerial candidate…,” Malviya said in a tweet.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala hit back, saying Gandhi was in Nepal for a private wedding and has not gone there uninvited. He also said it was not a crime to attend the wedding of a friend or a family member.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also slammed the BJP over the issue.
Gandhi arrived in Nepal on Monday, May 2, on a five-day private visit. According to The Kathmandu Post newspaper, the Congress leader is in the country’s capital to attend the wedding of his Nepali friend Sumnima Udas.
“We had extended an invitation to Gandhi to attend the wedding of my daughter,” said Bhim Udas, Sumnima’s father who also served as Nepal’s Ambassador to Myanmar.
Sumnima, a former CNN correspondent, is getting married to Nima Martin Sherpa, the report had said.
The India Today fact-check observes that many had proceeded to identify a woman, seen in the video with Gandhi, as Hou Yanqi, the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal. Among those who tweeted this claim is a TRS leader as well.
The news outlet found that Gandhi was at the nightclub on May 2, with five or six of his acquaintances. Calls to the nightclub by India Today confirmed that none of them were Chinese diplomats.
“The lady is definitely not the Chinese envoy. She is a Nepali woman from the bride’s side,” added a senior journalist.
“Based on eyewitness accounts, however, it is clear that in the viral video, Rahul Gandhi was not seen partying with a Chinese envoy. He was talking to a friend of the bride at the wedding he was attending,” India Today has reported.
Several, including Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, have called out the ecosystem in which such a fact-check is necessary online.