Video of Digvijaya Singh calling a woman ‘mad’ unrelated to Congress’ ‘guarantee cards’ scheme

What is the claim?

A short video clip circulating on social media depicts a woman allegedly being prevented from meeting Congress party leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh. The claim accompanying the video suggests that the woman was seeking money under the Congress 'guarantee cards' scheme and was chased away by Singh, who allegedly described her as ‘mad.’

The Congress's 'guarantee card' scheme, launched during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, promises Rs 1 lakh annually (or Rs 8,500 monthly) to the woman heading every poor family. Despite the INDIA bloc's failure to form a government at the Centre, post-election reports emerged of women in Lucknow demanding the 'guarantee cards' promised during the Congress campaign.

One user on X (formerly Twitter) posted the viral clip with the caption in Hindi, “When a woman went to Digvijay Singh to take Rs. 8500, see what he did.” Another X user wrote, “Congressmen are now chasing away women by calling them ‘mad’? Why was a ‘Guarantee Card’ of Rs 1 lakh given? Give the money immediately.... Will the country not tolerate insult to women? (Translated from Hindi)." Archived versions of these posts can be accessed here and here.

Screenshot of a social media user claiming a woman requesting money from Digvijaya Singh under ‘guarantee cards‘ (Source: X / Modified by Logically Facts).

However, we found that the viral video is from February 2024, and the woman was not asking for money under the ‘guarantee cards’ scheme in the video.

What did we find?

A reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video led us to several video news reports (archived here and here) featuring the viral clip and similar visuals from an incident reported on February 21, 2024, in Gwalior, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

According to a report by Hindi-language news outlet NDTV MPCG, the incident occurred during Singh's political tour in Gwalior, where he was meeting with local party workers. The report stated that despite security personnel's attempts to stop her, a woman repeatedly tried to meet Singh, leading to his angered outburst. Singh was reported to have shouted, “She is mad, throw her out (translated from Hindi)," directing security not to allow her entry.

The same report included an X post (archived here) by the same media outlet, featuring the viral clip with the headline, “Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh got angry at the woman leader and said- 'Throw her out,'” on February 21, 2024. 

 Screenshot of a video from a news outlet (Source: NDTV MPCG / Modified by Logically Facts).

What did the woman have to say?

Following the incident, the woman identified herself as Dr. Leena Sharma, claiming to be a Congress leader. She stated that she had come to seek a party ticket to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi. Despite the incident with Singh, she did not criticize him and spoke favorably about him, referring to him as ‘family’ during her interaction with the media.

Logically Facts has contacted Singh and the woman in the viral video for comment. This fact-check will be updated if and when we receive a response.

The verdict

A video depicting a woman purportedly attempting to meet Congress leader Digvijaya Singh to seek a ticket to contest against Narendra Modi is being misrepresented as showing her requesting money under the Congress' 'guarantee cards' scheme and being chased away.