A video of a woman criticizing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been shared online with the false claim that it is Subhashini Ali, a leader of the CPM, which has an alliance with the grand old party.
What is the claim?
A video circulating on social media platforms during India's 2024 Lok Sabha elections shows an elderly woman criticizing Rahul Gandhi and calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “beacon of peace”. Several users have claimed that the woman in the video is Subhashini Ali, a leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
In the video, the woman, speaking in Hindi, says, “If you want the nation to progress, please don't mention Rahul Gandhi. He has no knowledge about politics and the country.” She further praised Prime Minister Modi and said, “If you want to save the country, we should vote for Modi. He ruled the entire country and we should be grateful to him. He saves us from the wars that are taking place around the world. world, and I think he is a beacon of peace.” (Translated to English)
One post on to vote AND please vote wisely For the sake of Bharat.”
The post (archived here) has been viewed approximately 26,000 times on the platform at the time of writing this story. Other archived versions of such posts on X can be found here and here. Multiple Facebook users also shared the clip with similar claims; those archives can be viewed here and here.
However, our investigation revealed that the woman in the viral fragment had been misidentified. She is not CPI-M leader Subhashini Ali.
What have we found?
Upon careful observation of the viral video, we noticed the “99 Khabar” logo on a microphone. A Google search led us to the YouTube channel of the same name. We found a longer version of the viral clip on the channel, uploaded on January 29, 2024. The title, written in Hindi, roughly translates as: “Why are beautiful girls angry with Rahul Gandhi? Modi vs. Rahul Gandhi Public Opinion. Lok Sabha Elections 2024.” The same woman can be seen voicing her opinion in the video, timestamped from 6:55 to 8:00 minutes.
We also identified the same woman in another public opinion video uploaded by the same organization, 99 Khabar, to its Instagram account (archived here) on March 12, 2024. Here too, she can be heard praising Prime Minister Modi.
However, the woman's name or identity is not mentioned in any of the videos. If it were the opinion of CPI-M leader Subhashini Ali, as claimed, it would probably be mentioned in the YouTube video report, which describes the video as 'public opinion'. Other media organizations would also have paid attention to it, but we did not find any such media report where Ms Ali praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While it is true that the woman in the viral image bears some resemblance to Subhashini Ali at first glance, a closer look revealed several facial differences.
We also compared the female voice in the viral clip with Subhashini Ali's previous interviews and found clear differences in pitch, tone and voice modulation.
Additionally, Subhashini Ali (archived here) also posted a clarification on her official and the police. Let's see what they do.”
Speaking to Logically Facts, she reiterated that she did not appear in the viral video. Logically, Facts has also reached out to 99 Khabar and will update the story as soon as we receive a response.
The verdict
A viral video of an elderly woman expressing her views on Prime Minister Modi and criticizing Rahul Gandhi has been wrongly attributed to CPI-M leader Subhashini Ali and misrepresented as her political views during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, we marked the claim as false.
(This story was originally published by Logically Facts and republished by DailyExpertNews as part of the Shakti Collective.)