Fact Check: Rahul Gandhi Held Indian Constitution; Claim Of Showing Chinese Constitution Is Misleading And Election Propaganda

New Delhi, Vishvas News – Amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections, a picture of Rahul Gandhi is going viral on social media. It is being claimed that the book he referred to as a copy of the Indian Constitution during a public event is not the Constitution of India but rather a copy of the Constitution of China, because of its red cover.

Vishvas News investigated and found this claim to be misleading. The viral picture depicts Rahul Gandhi holding a copy of the Indian Constitution, specifically, the Coat of Arms Pocket Edition published by EBC.

What Is Viral?

Social media user ‘Bharat Gaur’ while sharing the viral post (archive link) wrote, “The original copy of the Constitution of India has a blue cover. The original Chinese constitution has a red cover. Does Rahul carry a Chinese Constitution? We will need to verify”

Investigation:

Upon conducting  a reverse image search of Rahul Gandhi’s photo from the viral post, we found a previous post (archive link) by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, which stated, “The original copy of the Indian Constitution has a blue cover and the original copy of the Chinese Constitution has a red cover. Is Rahul Gandhi carrying the Chinese Constitution with him? We need to investigate this.”

On the same post, Assam Congress’s verified X handle (archive link) shared a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi replying to Sarma, where he is seen handing over a copy of the Constitution to former President Ram Nath Kovind. This Constitution is identical to the one seen in Rahul Gandhi’s hands in the viral post, with the words “The Constitution of India” clearly and legibly written on the cover.

We again reverse image searched the viral picture of Rahul Gandhi and found a report published on NDTV.com website on May 19, 2024. The report clearly shows that the book in Rahul Gandhi’s hand is a copy of the Indian Constitution with  “The Constitution of India” clearly written on it.

According to the report, Rahul Gandhi waved a copy of the Indian Constitution during an election rally in Prayagraj and said, “The fight is to save the Constitution. BJP and RSS are attacking it and I want to tell them that no force can tear the Constitution or remove it.”

The copy of the Constitution held by Rahul Gandhi’s is the Coat Pocket Edition of the Indian Constitution, written by Gopal Shankaranarayan and published by EBC. Its picture is available on the website of ebcwebstore.com and precisely matches the one seen in Rahul Gandhi’s hand.

In the search we come across several reports featuring Rahul Gandhi expressing his views on this edition of the Constitution.

Additionally, we also found several pictures of senior BJP leaders with this coat pocket edition of the Constitution.

According to the information provided on the website loc.gov , the original copy of the Indian Constitution is kept in the Indian Parliament within a special blue-coloured helium-filled case.

However, several editions of the Indian Constitution have been published since then in different colored covers. Based on our investigation, the viral claim showingRahul Gandhi holding China’s Constitution in the election rally is fake and merely election propaganda.

We reached out to Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Abhimanyu Tyagi regarding the viral video. He said, “This is an absolutely fake claim. Rahul Gandhi always keeps the coat pocket edition of the Indian Constitution with him. Even in the viral picture, the book seen in Rahul Gandhi’s hand is a copy of the Indian Constitution.”

The user who shared the viral post with fake claims  has more than two hundred followers on Facebook.

Fact check reports investigating other misleading and fake claims related to the elections can be found in the election section of Vishwas News.

According to the Election Commission’s announcement (archive link), four phases of voting have already taken place in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and voting for the fifth phase was held  on May 20, 2024, encompassing a total of 49 seats in eight states and union territories.

Conclusion: Viral claim showing Rahul Gandhi holding a copy of the Chinese Constitution instead of the Indian Constitution in his election rally is misleading. The book seen in Rahul Gandhi’s hand in the viral picture is the Coat Pocket Edition of the Indian Constitution, which he has been showing in many rallies.

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• Rahul Gandhi