A screenshot purporting to depict a post from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's verified Twitter handle has gone viral, with social media users mocking him. The screenshot of Gandhi's alleged tweet includes a photo of Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra standing on the podium with the caption “First aake bhi dusre number pe khada hona kya sahi hai ? Jawab do modi ji”. (Is it fair to stand in second place after winning?" Modi ji, please reply.)
On August 7, Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in the men's javelin event at the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.58 metres. The 23-year-old from Panipat, Haryana, has become India's first Olympic gold medalist in track and field.
Also on August 7, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account was 'temporarily' locked by Twitter India, a day after the microblogging site removed a photo posted by Gandhi with the family members of a nine-year-old Dalit accused rape and murder victim.
According to a story, the action came after the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights sent a letter to Twitter India requesting that the post be removed since it revealed the identify of the deceased child.
Several Facebook sites have reposted the screenshot with identical claims. One such Facebook post's caption reads, 'Now what should we do with this gentleman?’
Real or Fake:
The screenshot clearly reveals that the viral post is fake. The screenshot's date stamp indicates that the photo was tweeted at 4.51 p.m. on August 5, 2021 while on August 7, 2021, Neeraj Chopra won the Olympic gold medal.
True Scoop also looked into Rahul Gandhi's other social media sites especially Twitter. We discovered that Gandhi had tweeted a congratulations message for Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya with the same time stamp, 4.51 p.m. On August 5, the 23-year-old Dahiya earned a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics.
Apart from this tweet, Gandhi complimented the Indian men's hockey team on August 5 and posted a few images during a march to Parliament. On August 7, Gandhi wrote Chopra a congratulations message in Hindi on Facebook.He said, “तिरंगे को आसमान में लहराते हुए देखने से बड़ा कोई अहसास नहीं है। जय हिंद!!! “ ( There’s nothing better than seeing the tricolour flutter in the sky. Jai Hind).
However, Twitter claims that by sending the tweet, Rahul Gandhi broke both Indian and Twitter regulations, which is why his account has been banned, in addition to the removal of the concerned message.