The video showed PM Modi addressing an election rally
A video is doing rounds on social media (here and here) showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a public gathering on the constitution with a claim that he said, "I will replace the old constitution with one based on Manusmriti, which not even Baba Saheb Ambedkar himself could abolish."
Let's verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: PM Modi stated, "I will change the old constitution to make a constitution with Manusmriti which even Baba Saheb Ambedkar himself cannot end."
Fact: In the original video, PM Modi stated "Concerning the Constitution, you should accept it, and mark these words of Modi, even if Babasaheb Ambedkar himself were to appear, he wouldn't be able to annul the Constitution. Our Constitution is the Geeta, Ramayana, Bible, and Quran for the government."
Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On performing a reverse image search using the keyframes of the video, we found media articles featuring an image of PM Modi in the same attire discussing this speech. We discovered that he delivered this speech at an election rally in Rajasthan's Barmer on April 12, 2024.
Furthermore, contrary to the claim made in the viral post, media reports indicated that PM Modi said that the Constitution is everything to the government, and even Babasaheb Ambedkar cannot abolish it.
Upon further research, we located the full video of the speech on PM Modi's official YouTube channel. In it, PM Modi stated, "Regarding the Constitution, you should accept it, and take note of these words of Modi, even if Babasaheb Ambedkar himself were to appear, he wouldn't be able to abolish the Constitution. Our Constitution is akin to the Geeta, Ramayana, Bible, and Quran for the (BJP) government."
Following this statement, he proceeded to criticize the INDIA alliance and the Congress manifesto. The video was edited from the time frame 34:28 to 34:46 and then shared.
To sum up, PM Modi did not mention implementing Manusmriti by changing the Constitution.
(This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)