Rahul Gandhi, who will begin his tour today, reached Dubai on Thursday evening. Congress President Rahul Gandhi who will interact with the Indian overseas and student communities during his maiden visit to the UAE was accorded a warm welcome by the Indian diaspora at the Dubai airport on Thursday, the party said. Rahul Gandhi is also set to meet some UAE ministers during his two-day visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the Khaleej Times reported. Mr Gandhi, who will begin his tour today, reached Dubai on Thursday evening. "CP @RahulGandhi will be on a two-day tour in Dubai from tomorrow. He will be interacting with the Indian overseas community and the student community," the Congress Party tweeted Thursday. Mr Gandhi had also previously addressed such public gatherings in the US, London, Germany and Bahrain. "Indians from across Dubai gather at the airport to greet Congress President @RahulGandhi with warmth & love ahead of his two day tour in UAE," the party tweeted. The Congress President would also be the "official chief guest" at the ''Indo-Arab cultural programme'' at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on January 11. The programme would also celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.<doc-sep>Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reinforced his image as a mass leader whose message finds resonance with Indians all over the world, the party said in a press statement on Monday. During the trip last week, Gandhi received an enthusiastic response and held meetings with several groups, including construction labourers, students, business leaders and the media. He also held closed-door meetings with senior members of the UAE government, the party said. It said the showpiece event of the Congress president’s UAE tour was a massive public meeting at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where over 30,000 Indians from across the UAE and the Middle East were in attendance.During his tour, Gandhi addressed the issues of “unemployment and the agrarian crisis”, and spoke against divisiveness. He interacted with students and business leaders, and visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Gandhi also discussed the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, the controversy over women’s entry into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple and the Rafale fighter jet deal. Rahul’s Tour Recap In his visit to the UAE, the Congress president touched upon some of the key talking points in present-day India. Highlights of what he said: On Intolerance India has witnessed a great deal of intolerance and anger in the last four and a half years which stemmed from the “mentality of the people in power”, he said. “Ideas have come to India, they have been shaped by India and India has been shaped by them. Listening to other people is also an idea of India,” he said, interacting with students at the IMT Dubai University as part of his global outreach programme ahead of the general elections. “Tolerance is embedded in our culture and it is quite sad to see what has been going on back home in the last four and a half years. We have seen a lot of intolerance, anger and division between communities. It stems from the mentality of the people who are leading,”Gandhi said. Gandhi said if the leadership is tolerant, it will act in a tolerant way and spread that message. “India is generally tolerant, we tend to listen and need to go back to that,” he said. “We don’t like an India where journalists are shot, where people are killed for what they say. That is something we want to change, that is the challenge in the upcoming elections,” he said. On UP Alliance Hours after the SP and BSP announced their alliance without the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi said his party will fight the elections in the state with “full capacity”. At a press conference in Dubai, Gandhi said he has a “tremendous respect” to the leaders of the two parties and “they have a right to do what they want to do”. “BSP and SP have made a political decision. It’s on us on how to strengthen the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh and we will fight with our full capacity,” he said. “Congress party has tremendous to offer to the people of Uttar Pradesh...I have tremendous respect to the leaders of BSP and SP, they have a right to do what they want to do,” he said. On Sabarimala Gandhi also said he cannot take an “open-and-shut” position on Sabarimala issue as there is validity in arguments of both sides.<doc-sep>1) CLAIM ONE: Rahul Gandhi’s image was displayed on Dubai’s 2) CLAIM TWO: Rahul Gandhi returned to India on a fighter plane, Dubai ruler broke protocol to enable this 3) CLAIM THREE: Rahul Gandhi said Islam philosophy inspired Mahatma Gandhi to practice non-violence Please do not fall for such fake news. Congress President Rahul Gandhi was on a two-day UAE visit from January 11 to January 13. Gandhi visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In the two days he was there, Gandhi reached out to the Indian expatriates in the UAE, assured them to accommodate all their problems in the party manifesto and had a "cordial discussion" with Sharjah ruler Muhammad Al-Qasimi.Meanwhile, fake-news purveyors were busy spreading misinformation about Gandhi's UAE visit. It started the week before he actually left for Dubai and is still going on. Here are three fake news manufactured around Gandhi's UAE visit.A Facebook page supporting Gandhi, that goes by the name of "With Rahul Gandhi", posted a video that showed Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, one of the world-famous skyscrapers, displaying Rahul Gandhi’s photo on it.The claim was false and the video was fake and in reality, Burj Khalifa did not display Gandhi's photo as claimed in the Facebook post.Times Fact Check has found that the video showing Gandhi's image being displayed on Burj Khalifa was made using an application called Biugo, and we had fact-checked this claim on January 8.A Facebook page that goes by the name "Viral in India", a serial fake-news peddler, made a post with a caption that closely translates to, "Rahul Gandhi becomes first such Indian leader", sharing a link to an article that said how Gandhi returned to Indian on a special Emirates flight. The title of the article that closely translates to, "Rahul Gandhi to return by Dubai's fighter plane, Dubai ruler breaks protocol again" is misleading.The article said that the "fighter plane" in question is usually made available only for prime ministers / presidents / rulers of other countries and that this is the first time the service was provided to a leader not holding a position of power in the government.Times Fact Check found a report on Gulf News that said Gandhi returned to India on an Emirates flight at 3.10 PM on Sunday, January 13. We checked the official website of Emirates airlines to find a flight from Dubai to New Delhi at 3.10 PM. It is clear that no special arrangement was made for Gandhi.One of the photos used inside the article posted by "Viral in India" showing Rahul Gandhi interacting with a kid, a fellow passenger, is from 2014 when Gandhi made headlines for travelling to Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram by a budget airline. (Photo tweeted by @rojimjohn)Another serial fake-news peddler - a Facebook page that goes by the name “PMO India: Report Card” posted a video that shows Gandhi talking at an event and saying, “Mahatma Gandhi picked up the idea of non-violence from ancient Indian philosophy, from Islam…” along with a caption that said, “New knowledge for you”.The post has, by now, been shared over 6,700 times and viewed over 1,67,000 times. The same video has been shared by many other pages and individual users as well.Times Fact Check noticed the logos on the video and found the original, 27.38-minute-long video on the official YouTube account of the Indian National Congress . At 24.10 minutes, Gandhi could be heard saying, "Non-violence is embedded inside our DNA. And it's been embedded not for 50 years. Mahatma Gandhi was a great exponent of non-violence. But Mahatma Gandhiji picked up the idea of non-violence from our great religions, from our great teachers. Mahatma Gandhi picked up the idea of non-violence from ancient Indian philosophy, from Islam, from Christianity, from Judaism, from every great religion; where it is clearly written that violence will not help anyone achieve anything. "Watch the video here:It is clear that the fake-news peddlers trimmed a longer video and took a part of Gandhi's speech out of context to portray he said Mahatma Gandhi picked up non-violence from Islam.<doc-sep>
The high point of Rahul Gandhi's Dubai visit is a mega cultural evening organised by the Indian Overseas' Congress at the Dubai Cricket stadium on January 11 evening. (File photo: Reuters) Congress president Rahul Gandhi is set to visit the United Arab Emirates as he continues his international outreach programme. Gandhi will visit Dubai on January 11 and Abu Dhabi on January 12. The two-day trip will be Gandhi's first international tour of 2019. Among the activities scheduled, is a January 11 meeting with workers' community at a Dubai labour accommodation. A "team of researchers" from Indian Overseas Congress will also be making a presentation about the various issues faced by the Indian disapora in the UAE to the Amethi MP. Speaking to India Today TV, Himanshu Vyas, the secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) said, "The context of the meeting is not political, it is our way of reaching out to the Indian diaspora. The problems faced by these workers range from the high costs of mortal remains repatriation to workers' issues and challenges faced by destitute Indians. There is a demand from Indian diaspora that Rahulji should raise these issues in the Indian parliament too." Apart from visiting labour's accommodations to interact with the workers' community, Gandhi will also speak to students. The high point of Rahul Gandhi's Dubai visit is a mega cultural evening organised by the Indian Overseas' Congress at the Dubai Cricket stadium on January 11 evening. Gandhi will be the official chief guest at the 'Indo-Arab cultural programme' at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on January 11. Around 70 folk artists from various Indian states would be performing at the stadium. The Congress chief will also be addressing the public on "Idea of India" at the cricket stadium. This is the only event where Gandhi would address the general public. Sam Pitroda, the president of the Indian Overseas Congress, in a video statement released by IOC said, "We want to interact with Indian origin people in various countries including UAE. In Dubai we'll meet business leaders, local leaders, visit labour camp and the event at Dubai international cricket stadium." According to authoritative sources, Rahul Gandhi is also likely to hold private meetings with members of the Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC) as well as interact with university students. Meanwhile, on January 12, Gandhi will head to Abu Dhabi where he'll meet with UAE ministers. This will be followed by private meetings with the Indian Business Professional Group (IBPG). Finally, according to sources, on the Gandhi's travel itinerary is a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. In 2018, Rahul Gandhi had visited the US, London, Malaysia, Germany and Bahrain as part of his international outreach programme.