Image Courtesy:indiatvnews.com
Claim: Rahul Gandhi went clubbing with a Chinese diplomat in Nepal?
Busted: Fake news spread by right wing, says club owner
This one is embarrassing even for the right-wing internet army, who are not known for their fact checking ways. A couple of days ago, a video clip from a party in a Kathmandu nightclub went viral with the claim that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was seen in it, was partying with a ‘Chinese Diplomat’.
While a section of the right-wing was attacking Gandhi for attending a party, another was agog with the claim that he was accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi.
But the truth is that Gandhi was in Nepal to attend the wedding of his friend Sumnima Udas, who was once CNN International’s Delhi-based correspondent and is the daughter of Bhim Udas, a former Nepali envoy to Myanmar. Sumnima Udas married Nima Martin Sherpa on May 3, and according to reports reception is scheduled on May 5.
Noiiice ? pic.twitter.com/jTvUyVuE7A
— Ajit Datta (@ajitdatta) May 3, 2022
The clip showing Gandhi at the party went viral on May 3, and the trolls came out of the woodwork in droves. However their ‘Chinese woman’ claim was both, inaccurate and also a little racist given how they assumed that the woman in the picture was Chinese based on her appearance.
According to reports, Rabin Shrestha the CEO of Nepal’s Lord of the Drinks pub, where the party was held, told the media that the woman Gandhi was talking to was a friend of the bride. And the club that day was the venue where the group of friends of the bridal couple, who were in town for the wedding, were hanging out. Many BJP leaders too now have egg on their faces claiming that Rahul Gandhi was ‘secretly’ meeting, nay ‘partying’ with a Chinese diplomat.
As Rahul Gandhi has been asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify the questions on the reported Chinese incursions in India’s Arunachal Pradesh, the right-wing jumped at amplifying the fake news of him meeting a ‘Chinese diplomat’.
According to Congress party’s communication department head Randeep Surjewala Gandhi was in Nepal to “participate in a private marriage function of a friend,” adding that the friend was a journalist.
Many trolls when cornered deleted their posts. However, some were archived by media organisations such as India Today and may be seen here and here.
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