Fact Check: Video Of Nirmala Sitharaman’s Metro Ride Misrepresented With False Claims
A video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman travelling by Delhi Metro during the Lok Sabha elections in May 2024, is being shared out of context, with the misleading claim that she uses the Metro for her daily commute to the ministry.
- By: Abhishek Parashar
- Published: Jul 24, 2024 at 11:19 AM
New Delhi (Vishvas News) – As Budget 24 was presented in the Parliament on July 23, a video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman travelling in Delhi Metro is going viral on social media. It is being claimed that this video depicts her daily routine of commuting from her home to the ministry using the metro.
In its investigation, Vishvas News found this claim to be misleading. The viral video dates back to Lok Sabha Election 2024, when she was on a tour of East Delhi and she travelled by metro for that trip.
What Is Viral?
Social media user ‘AK Pandey‘ shared the viral video (archive link ) and wrote, “This simple looking woman is Indian Finance Minister ‘Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman’ who goes to office every day by metro train. She is the current Finance Minister of a 4 trillion dollar economy, 5 trillion stock capitalisation, 700 billion foreign reserves.*”
Many other users on different social media platforms have also shared this video with similar claims.
Investigation:
The viral video features Nirmala Sitharaman travelling in the metro. We conducted a Google keyword search to identify the source of the viral video and found many similar reports mentioning her journey.
According to a report by Hindi.News18.com published on May 19, 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rode the Delhi Metro on Friday, May 17, 2024, and interacted with the passengers. The video of her journey has gone viral on social media.
According to reports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was travelling by Delhi Metro in East Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar to visit a CA coaching class. This visit is also mentioned in many other reports.
According to an Amar Ujala report dated May 17, 2024, “From the Prime Minister to the ministers and leaders, everyone is busy campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. Voting for the Lok Sabha will be held on 25 May in the capital Delhi. Before that, from the Union Ministers to the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, everyone is campaigning and asking for votes. In this episode, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reached Laxmi Nagar in Delhi on Friday. During this, she travelled in the Delhi Metro. During the journey, the Finance Minister also interacted with the passengers. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also travelled in the Delhi Metro.”
We reached out to Dainik Jagran’s East Delhi senior reporter Mohammad Shujauddin regarding the viral video and he confirmed that this video dates back to May 2024, when she travelled by metro. According to the news report, after the results of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government, led by BJP has been formed for the third consecutive term at the Centre and Nirmala Sitharaman has been reappointed as Finance Minister.
The profile of the user who shared the viral video with the misleading claim often shares content inspired by a particular ideology. Fact check reports of other viral claims and those related to the recently concluded elections can be read on the Vishvas News website.
Conclusion: A video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman travelling by Delhi Metro during the Lok Sabha elections in May 2024, is being shared out of context, with the misleading claim that she uses the Metro for her daily commute to the ministry.
- Claim Review : Nirmala Sitharaman goes to office every day by metro train.
- Claimed By : Facebok User
- Fact Check : Misleading
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