New Delhi, 26th August, 2022: Today, an allegedly out of context video of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari from a book launch event was leaked in conjunction with the government’s recent action of removing Gadkari from the BJP Board of Parliament by opposition party leaders, and it quickly went viral on social media.
A video of Nitin Gadkari’s speech, in which he is heard saying that he does not care if he loses his ministerial position, is being circulated with the false claim that he made the statement in the context of his recent removal from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJPdecision-making )’s parliamentary board.
It must be noted that Ten News team was among handful of media outlets that have actually covered the event, and the said video was being shared and presented out of context by reporters who didn’t actually cover the event but tried making an opinion based on few seconds of clip.
The 39 seconds video was tweeted by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh with the caption when translated reads, “Why did Nitin Gadkari say this after all? BJP is running a big mess.” The caption in the video when translated reads, “My ministry post goes, then it goes, I don’t care”. Gadkari is leaving the BJP?”
During the Address, Ten News was present there and after verification our team team found out, Gadkari’s original address, which is around 27 minutes long, was given on August 23, 2022, at the launch of Dr. Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay’s book ‘Naukarsyahi Ke Rang.’ Gadkari’s address was live streamed on his own YouTube channel and Twitter account.
Gadkari also tweeted a tweet thread about the viral clip, denying the allegations and claiming that a ‘fabricated campaign’ is being waged against him.
During his stint as Maharashtra’s PWD Minister, Gadkari mentioned an incidence in Melghat, Amravati district, Maharashtra, in which children perished from malnutrition. Melghat Tiger Reserve, which covers approximately 1500 square Kilometres, was one of India’s original nine tiger reserves, established in 1973-74.
“I was a minister in the Maharashtra government in 1996, and there was an event when 2500 children died owing to malnutrition in Melghat, Amravati district, Maharashtra,” Gadkari heard stating around 7.30 minutes.
Our Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, used to say, Nitin, what is the situation? Melghat has roughly 450 villages with no roads. I was the PWD minister, and during meetings, the forest and chief conservation officer would come and tell them, and once I heard him (Joshi) say, “don’t you feel anything, 2500 children died of malnutrition,… there is no electrical line, you’ll stop all the work under forest conservation, don’t you feel anything,” and the officer told him (Joshi), “I’m sorry and that he can’t do anything.”
At 9 minutes and 17 seconds, “Then I felt guilty and told him, Sir, you won’t be able to handle this task; I’m very good at handling this work; do one thing and leave this one. I’m not concerned about the consequences, and I intend to do this task. If at all possible, remain with me; if my ministerial position is lost, then be it,” He added.
The aforesaid comment can be heard at the beginning of the viral film, which has been edited and circulated while making the false allegation. Gadkari then adds that as the PWD minister, he passed a directive stating that road work in roughly 450 villages in Melghat should begin, and that if any accountability has to be pinned in the future under the act (Forest act), he would be answerable as the minister.
This statement was similarly cut out of the viral video, indicating that Gadkari was referring to the development of roads in Melghat rather than expressing in general that he does not care if he loses his ministerial position.
