BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya has taken a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for a mistake in narrating history linked to his family and India's struggle for independence from British rule.
Rahul Gandhi on his official YouTube channel which has 92 lakh subscribers spoke about Mahatma Gandhi and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and made a connection with the journey he himself has taken in politics.
While describing how Mahatma Gandhi's fight against the colonial power began, Rahul Gandhi said Mahatma Gandhi was "thrown out of a train in the UK", after which his "great-great-grandfather and his cousins" took revenge.
Mr Siroya in a post on X pointed out the error in Rahul Gandhi's comment - the incident of Mahatma Gandhi being thrown out of a train in the UK never happened.
"I watched this interview with curiosity because Rahul Gandhi was speaking about his great grandfather Pandit Nehru. However, I was very disappointed when I heard him say (at 2 mins 40 secs) that Mahatma Gandhi Ji was thrown out of the train in England," Mr Siroya said.
"I recorded the video on my other phone so that they don't edit it out to cover it up later. I have also captured the auto caption in YouTube, which reflects what Rahul Ji exactly says. Nobody should learn history from Rahul Ji. Even a person like me who is not highly educated knows Gandhi Ji was thrown out of the train in South Africa. Sad that the Nehru Centre people, and all the intelligent Congressmen and Sandeep Dikshit Ji, who is a very nice person, did not spot this error before releasing the video," the BJP MP said.
When he was working as a lawyer in South Africa's Natal, Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out of a first-class train seat while travelling from Durban to Pretoria on June 7, 1893.
"Rahul Ji also says in the video that his great grandfather and his cousins went to Allahabad railway station to throw out some Britishers from first class compartments to avenge Gandhi Ji's humiliation. In June 1893, when Gandhi Ji was thrown out of the train in South Africa, Nehru Ji was only 4 years old. Did a 4-year-old go to the railway station in Allahabad to protest?" Mr Siroya said.
His swipe at Rahul Gandhi also grazed Sandeep Dikshit, the son of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who was talking with Rahul Gandhi in the YouTube video.
Describing the conversation, Rahul Gandhi said it was a podcast-style conversation with Sandeep Dikshit for The Nehru Centre, where he spoke about what drove him - "the pursuit of truth" - and how that pursuit was inspired by his great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru.
"He wasn't just a politician. He was a seeker, a thinker, someone who walked into danger with a smile and came out stronger. His greatest legacy lies in his relentless pursuit of truth - a principle that shaped everything he stood for..." Rahul Gandhi said.
