By: Ankita Kulkarni
May 23 2024
Clipped video shared to claim Mallikarjun Kharge said 'Congress party is finished'
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Screenshot of viral post claiming that video shows Mallikarjun Kharge said Congress is finished. (Source: Instagram/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict Misleading
A portion of Kharge's speech, in which he quoted critics claiming Congress party is "finished," has been clipped and shared with a misleading context.
Claim ID e4abe9de
What is the claim?
A video circulating on social media platforms claims that Indian National Congress Party President Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Congress is over" during a 2024 Lok Sabha election rally. In the video, Kharge is seen speaking in Hindi, stating, "Congress is finished. Congress is dead. And now you can't see Congress anywhere (translated to English)."
The posts sharing this video claim that Kharge admitted the Congress party has been disbanded and is no longer functioning. Archived versions of similar posts can be viewed here and here.
Screenshot of viral posts shared on social media. (Source: Instagram/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, our investigation reveals that Kharge's video has been edited and shared with a misleading narrative. The original video shows Kharge quoting statements made by the critics of Congress party in Ahmedabad.
What did we find?
A reverse image search of a screenshot from the viral clip led us to a YouTube video live-streamed on the official channel of the Indian National Congress (archived here) on May 2, 2024. In the video, Kharge can be seen addressing an election rally in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
At the 12:04 timestamp, Kharge discusses Ahmedabad, saying, "Ahmedabad is one such big and famous city. Mahatma Gandhi ji, Sardar Patel ji, Dadabhai Naroji, and many more great leaders were born here. They made Gujarat great. Gandhiji and Sardar Patel, Bhulabhai Desai, Vithalbhai Patel, and the Speaker of our Lok Sabha, Mavalankar ji — all the leaders have built the country, and among them, three members became the presidents of our Congress party — Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi ji, U.N. Dhebar — all of them held the position of party president and strengthened it."
He then adds, "So, I want to say, the foundation of the Congress party in Ahmedabad city is very strong. No one can remove it, and no one can dare to say that we will finish the Congress. Few people say, 'Congress is finished, Congress is dead, and Congress will not be seen anywhere for you' — the leaders here say this. I only want to ask them this: this Ahmedabad city is Mahatma Gandhi ji's holy place. But it is surprising that in this land, people with such ideology are born who are thinking about finishing Gandhi ji's ideology."
The part of the speech highlighted in bold above has now been selectively edited and circulated with a misleading narrative, alleging that Kharge said the 'Congress party is finished.'
Logically Facts has debunked several such election rally videos that were shared out of context. Our checks can be found here, here, and here.
The verdict
The viral video falsely portrays Mallikarjun Kharge as declaring that the Congress party is "over" during an election rally in Ahmedabad. In reality, Kharge was quoting critics who claim the party is "finished." As a result, we have marked this claim misleading.