“A viral message about the former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi is being circulated on social media with claims, “When the country needed him in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, the Indian Air Force pilot, Rajiv Gandhi fled the country.” But BBC found that the claims are misleading as he was never a fighter pilot in Indian Air Force. Also, he did not flee the country during the Indo-Pak 1971 war.”
Social media posts
Claim dated 7 Mar 2019.
BBC Hindi rated thisMisleading
In short
This claim spread on social media around 7 March 2019. BBC Hindi (India) looked into it and published its finding on 9 March 2019, 2 days later. Its rating was “Misleading”.
Where the claim appeared
- postcard.newshttps://postcard.news/shocking-hidden-secret-revealed-indian-airlines-pilot-rajiv-gandhi-…
- pikapost.comhttp://pikapost.com/rajiv-gandhi-1971-war/
Links recorded by BBC Hindi. Some posts may have been deleted since.
This check was done by BBC Hindi, not by DoesItStand. We list it so you can find it. Their full evidence and reasoning are in their article.