Gautam Gambhir did not say: “My commentary is more important than the pollution control meeting”

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On 18th November 2019, a Facebook user named “Sunny Upadhyay” posted a video, which reads, “You did not come to the meeting called for increasing pollution in Delhi? Gautam Gambhir – My job is more important than attending this meeting. 

Then why did you become an MP? Just to accuse Kejriwal!”

In this video we can see East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir talking to the media. When the news reporter asked him “You did not come to the meeting when you were called, Gambhir replied, “Is this gathering more important than my work?” 

On 15^th November 2019, Gautam Gambhir was called to a meeting related to pollution in Delhi, which he could not attend. Now this video is being spread with the claim that “Gautam Gambhir himself has said that his work is more important than the meeting on pollution control”.

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In the beginning of the investigation, we found this video on YouTube with the keywords “Gautam Gambhir ANI Pollution”, as a result of which we got a video broadcasted by ANI on 18th November 2019. The video is a long version of the viral video, which reads, “Gautam Gambhir said that: It is more important to work on measures to reduce pollution rather than attending these meetings”. In this video, at 1:30 minutes, we can hear the reporter asking questions, to which Gambhir replies: “Brother is meeting necessary or my work? In the fifth month itself, I have briefed you. Why don’t you count the work that they (Kejriwal) have done in the last five years.

After this, he also said that “I did not attend the meeting because when I got the mail on the 11th, I had conveyed this on the same day that my contract says that I have to entertain.” The mail was sent on the 11^th itself, it is not true that I replied on the 13th that I will not attend the meeting. But you see my work over five months; don’t say that in 10 minutes I was being trolled”. If all this hard work was focused towards reducing the pollution of Delhi, in the same way that the efforts are being put in trolling, posting posters and distributing jalebis, today we would all have been able to breathe together.”

The description of the above YouTube video reads that “Gautam Gambhir gave an explanation on his absence during the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development on Air Pollution in Delhi on 15^th  November, stating that he was contracted for commentary and the committee had already been informed about this.

In the beginning of this video we can hear Gautam Gambhir clarifying that “It was necessary to go for the commentary and he had already entered into a contract, we got a mail on the evening of November 11^th and we replied that on the same day itself that we would not be able to come.” And apart from this, if the efforts spent on distributing jalebis, trolling me, posting posters, were diverted towards the reduction of pollution in Delhi, we all would breathe easy today.”

This makes it clear that the viral clip on social media is actually a small part of an entire statement, after hearing only a part of the statement it would seem that Gautam Gambhir has made a statement that his work as a commentator is more important than the meeting of pollution board. A short clip of this video is being spread with the intention to mislead people. In the original video, Gautam Gambhir was actually using the words “my work” to refer his work done towards eradication of pollution which he took on after being elected as an MP and is not his referring to his work as a commentator.

You can see the comparison of the clipped video and the original video below.

You can also see this video in the tweet published by ANI’s official Twitter account. 

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Conclusion: We found the above post to be wrong after checking the facts. The viral videos are being spread on social media with the intent to mislead people. This is a short clip of the original video. In the original video, Gautam Gambhir was using the words “my work” to indicate the work he did towards the eradication of pollution after he was elected as an MP and not with relation to his work as a commentator.