Was Amit Shah Stunned By This Reporter's Question? No, Viral Video Is Edited Clip From 2020

Recently, PM Modi held a rally at Parade Grounds in Hyderabad on Sunday, July 3. The 'Vijay Sankalp Sabha' held at Parade Grounds witnessed participation from over a lakh people, as per news reports. The rally was held in the run-up to the upcoming elections in Telangana in 2023.

Following the rally, a video is being widely circulated of Home Minister Amit Shah failing to answer a question asked by a reporter.

The Logical Indian Fact Check Team recently debunked another video that had gone viral following the rally. The video showed BJP workers distributing alcohol during the rally in Hyderabad. However, we found that the video dates back to 2021, as can be found in this report here.

Claim:

In the viral video, Amit Shah is standing alongwith a reporter holding a mic. The reporter questions him, "In Telangana, despite the flood, the Centre hasn't sent a single penny. Then why are leaders from Delhi showing face here?". In the video, a single frame of Amit Shah's reaction to the question can be seen.

Netizens claimed that Amit Shah was stumped by a question that a reporter asked him regarding the Centre's alleged lack of action during floods in Hyderabad. Users have claimed that this incident took place following PM Modi's recent rally in Hyderabad.

I.P. Singh, a member of the Samajwadi Party, shared the video in a tweet with the following caption, "Yesterday, Feku was talking about creating abundant rivers of development in Telangana. In such a situation, a journalist asked this question to Home Minister Amit Shah. Instead of answering, he can be seen looking sideways and didn't utter a word. This is a government of propaganda."

Manish Agarwal, the Digital Media Coordinator of the Samajwadi Party, also tweeted the video with the following claim, "Journalist asks Amit Shah. Here it rained and flooded, but the Centre did not provide a single penny, Why did the leaders from Delhi come here to show face? Amit Shah: Absolutely silent"

Ashok Basoya, the Additional Advocate General of Chhattisgarh tweeted the video with the following claim, "Journalist - When it rained and flooded, the Modi government did not help Telangana. Amit Shah: silence. This is called journalism."

The video is viral across Twitter and Facebook.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral video is from 2020.

We noticed that the reporter was holding a mic emblazoned with the V6 News logo. Taking a cue from this, we conducted a keyword search with the terms, 'Amit Shah V6 News.' This led us to a tweet published by the news outlet, V6 News, on November 29, 2020. In the tweet, a longer version of the viral video was attached.

This video interview with Amit Shah was uploaded by V6 News on November 29, 2020, on their YouTube channel. The video was shot during a road show by Shah leading up to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls in 2020. In the 3-minute video, at the 0.08 mark, the reporter asks Amit Shah, "Sir you had first come here before the assembly elections in 2018, and then now. How do you think the atmosphere here has changed?"

Amit Shah responds, "From what I can see since the morning, not one gully is empty and the people have turned up to welcome the BJP workers. To me, this indicates that this time there will be a mayor elected from the BJP in Hyderabad."

At the 0.28 mark, the reporter asks Shah, "KCR (K. Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana) has said that if BJP wins here, the law and order will be disturbed and communal riots will happen. What do you say to this?" Shah: "Wherever we (BJP) have won, there have been no communal riots. This is our record."

Then at the 0.40 mark in the video, the reporter asks the question as can be heard in the viral video.

However, in the original video, Amit Shah responds as follows, "We have spent the most amount of money in Hyderabad. But I want to say this. When the homes of seven lakh people were flooded, where were Sri Owaisi (Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM President) and Sri KCR? They went to nobody's homes and weren't even visible? When there was water in people's homes, our workers, and our ministers were in the midst of people. And why was water filled in people's homes? It's due to the boost to encroachment under the direction of Owaisi. We want to let the people of Hyderabad know that if the BJP is elected to the Municipal Corporation, all encroachments would be removed in such a way that there would be no flooding in the future. We want to create a modern city that becomes a leading I.T. hub in the world."

After answering the question, Shah moves on to answering more questions posed by the reporter as can be seen in the rest of the video. He answers all of the questions and isn't seen skipping any questions.

The reporter asked the questions in the context of the floods that took place in Hyderabad on 14 October 2020. The Logical Indian has reported on the floods, can be seen in this post from October 15, 2020.

Conclusion:

In our Fact Check, we found that Amit Shah answered several questions posed by the reporter. The reporter had asked the question in the aftermath of the Hyderabad floods in October 2020 and in the lead-up to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election which was conducted in December 2020.

In the original video of the interview, after the reporter posed the question regarding the Centre's alleged inaction during the Hyderabad floods, Shah responded with criticism of Owaisi and KCR. The viral video was edited in a way to make Shah look stumped and speechless after the reporter asked the question. Thus, we can conclude that the viral video is a clip from a 2020 video and is misleading.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: Did BJP Workers Distribute Alcohol at PM Modi's Rally In Hyderabad, Telangana? No, Viral Video Is Misleading!