A viral video featuring Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai has sparked controversy with the claim that it shows Annamalai disparaging Hindu nationalist ideologue VD Savarkar.

In the video, Annamalai could be heard saying, “Savarkar, it is generally said about him that he licked the boots of the Englishman. (translated from Tamil)”

The Tamil text on the 11-second video clip read ‘The lamb revealing the truth. (translated from Tamil)’ The video clip also included a scene from the Malayalam movie ‘Kaalapaani’, where actor Mohanlal is seen licking a British officer’s boot, describing what Annamalai was saying in the video allegedly about Savarkar.

An X user shared the video claiming that Annamalai made the remarks about Savarkar before joining the BJP. The caption read, “I was looking for this video for two days. Aadu Annamalai before joining BJP! (Translated from Tamil)”

Another X user has shared the video with the caption “The lamb unveiled the truth about Savarkar…”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading as the video clip has been edited to remove the context.

By using relevant keywords, we found the extended version of the clip on the YouTube channel Inside Tamil titled ‘Thiru. Annamalai l Press Meet l BJP l Savarkar Book Published.’ It was published on October 2, 2021.

The video shows the launch of a book on Savarkar for which Annamalai was the chief guest. Prabha Khaitan Foundation, the book’s publisher, shared the details of the book launch on X.

At the 6:28-minute mark in the YouTube video, while responding to a media question about Savarkar, Annamalai said, “In Tamil Nadu, when people discuss Veer Savarkar, they often criticise him right away. They call him an apologist. I don’t want to use that word. In Tamil Nadu, they usually say British boot licker. People say that Veer Savarkar licked the boots of the Englishman. But does that comment really do justice to the man?”

The viral clip only featured Annamalai’s ‘boot lick’ statement while editing out the context making it look like he was criticising Savarkar. However, throughout the press conference, Annamalai could be seen stating that Savarkar was innocent and that his actions were not wrong.

Those sharing the clip claim that Annamalai made the ‘negative comments’ about Savarkar before joining the BJP. However, Annamalai joined the BJP on August 25, 2020, and the video is from 2021, a year after he joined the party.

Hence, the video of Annamalai ‘criticising’ Savarkar is edited and is being shared without context. The claim is misleading.

Claim Review: The video shows TN BJP state president K Annamalai making disparaging remarks about Savarkar, calling him a ‘boot licker of the British.’

Claimed By: X

Claim Reviewed By: NewsMeter

Claim Source: X users

Claim Fact Check: False

Fact: The claim is misleading. In the original extended video, Annamalai was refuting allegations made against Savarkar.

(This story was originally published by NewsMeter, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)

A video of Home Minister Amit Shah is being shared with a misleading claim that he has said election promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold no meaning and are forgotten after the polls are over.

What’s the claim

A purported video of Home Minister Amit Shah is being shared on social media with a claim that he said there is no meaning to the promises made during elections, implying that he was referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the six-second clip, Shah can be heard saying, “That’s why I say there is no meaning to this ‘guarantee’. They say it during elections and then forget.”

Sharing the video, a user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote that this is a poll gimmick and urged the voters to be careful, adding that this is a “big expose on #ModikiGuarantee by Amit Shah.” Archived versions of such posts can be found here and here. The clip has also gained traction on Facebook and Instagram, where users have said that Mr Shah himself “exposed” his party.

However, this is misleading. In the original video, Mr Shah was referring to the guarantees made by the Indian National Congress (INC) and not by the prime minister.

What we found

The video is a small segment from Amit Shah’s recent interview to Smita Prakash, editor-in-chief of news agency Asian News International (ANI). The original video was published on the agency’s official YouTube channel (archived here) on May 15, 2024.

During the interview, at the 25:15 minute mark, Ms Prakash asked Mr Shah about Congress’ guarantees which he had previously referred to as “Chinese Guarantees”. In response, he said, “I called it “Chinese guarantee” on the basis of its durability.” He then said, “I just went to Telangana. The women there are still waiting for their Rs 12,000, the farmers are waiting for their loan waivers, and the girls are waiting for their promised scooters. These were guarantees made by Rahul ji. Now you try to find Rahul ji.”

Ms Prakash then goes on to say that the elections in the southern part are over and Rahul Gandhi has moved to the northern part of the country. Following this, at 26:05 minute mark, Mr Shah made the statement featured in the viral video, saying, “But even when he was in the South, he would make promises, which is why I say that this guarantee is meaningless. They say it during elections and then forget.”

There’s no mention of Mr Shah saying “Modi ki Guarantee” anywhere before or after he made the viral remark. ANI also shared this part of Mr Shah’s interview from May 15, 2024, on their official X channel (archived here).

The verdict

This clip has been clipped to misrepresent Amit Shah’s original remarks. Originally, Mr Shah was accusing the Congress party for not fulfilling their poll promises. Therefore, we have marked this claim as misleading.

(This story was originally published by Logically Facts and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)

New Delhi:

A viral video featuring BJP MP and actor Manoj Tiwari is circulating on social media claiming that the leader has already conceded defeat against the Congress candidate even as his constituency is yet to vote.

The video features a Hindi text overlay that translates to: “Manoj Tiwari has accepted defeat.”

In the 11-second clip, Mr Tiwari, speaking to a journalist in a moving car, says, “Look, I was aware of my defeat, but the sad thing was that I had been winning for a long time, and then I felt like I was about to lose (translated from Hindi).”

On X, the video was shared with captions that read: “The dancer accepted defeat even before the elections. How will the BJP cross 400 (seats) like this? Kanhaiya Kumar is amazing.”

One such post has amassed over 39,000 views at the time of writing. Archived versions of these posts can be found here and here.

Manoj Tiwari is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the North East Delhi constituency, which he currently represents as a Member of Parliament. The constituency will vote on May 25, when Mr Tiwari will face Kanhaiya Kumar, a Congress leader and former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, among other candidates.

However, a clip of Manoj Tiwari talking about his unsuccessful 2009 contest has been misinterpreted to claim he has purportedly accepted defeat against Mr Kumar in the ongoing polls.

What Did We Find?

Upon spotting the ‘Jist’ watermark in the viral video, we tracked its extended version on the Jist YouTube channel. This video (archived here) was uploaded on March 31. The video, titled “I Spent A Day With Manoj Tiwari To Discuss Pyar, Cricket, Rahul Gandhi, Modi & Kejriwal | Part-1,” runs for about an hour and 11 minutes. The viral segment appears between the 34:04 mark and the 34:14 timestamps.

The video is of Mr Tiwari interacting with a journalist, and around the 28-minute mark in this clip, Mr Tiwari delves into the 2009 general elections. He mentions that he was initially unaffiliated with any party and even campaigned for money for his now-rival Congress in Lucknow. He recounts how Amar Singh, a politician who served as the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP), brought him into his party.

Around the 31:10 mark, Mr Tiwari says that despite his initial hesitation, he agreed to contest the election as an SP candidate after being urged by Amar Singh at a gathering that included actor Amitabh Bachchan and businessman Anil Ambani.

Further, he recalls his hesitance to contest the 2009 elections against BJP leader Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur due to his past affiliation with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP. He also narrates an incident where he fled to Mumbai during the campaign to evade facing Yogi Adityanath and the fear of his inevitable defeat, only to be caught and forced to return.

Then, around the 34:04 mark, Mr Tiwari says, “Look, I was aware of my defeat. But the sad thing was that I had been winning for a long time. I felt like I was about to lose.”

He then says, “But even in that defeat, there was a victory because of Yogi Adityanath, who stood for Hindu culture, civilization, and Sanatan culture… We didn’t know that Narendra Modi would become the country’s Prime Minister at the time. I’m talking about 2009. In 2009, you could see there was a situation of complete political instability throughout the country.”

This bit, where it is clear that he was referring to the 2009 elections, has been omitted from the viral clip to make it appear that he conceded defeat in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

2009 General Elections

Manoj Tiwari began his political career in Gorakhpur in 2009 when he ran as a Samajwadi Party candidate. He contested against Yogi Adityanath – now the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who had consistently represented Gorakhpur in Parliament since 1998, as reported by NDTV.

However, Mr Tiwari was unsuccessful in his Parliament bid at the time, securing only around 83,000 votes. Yogi Adityanath had polled over four lakh votes, and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Vinay Shankar Tiwari got 1.82 lakh votes. Mr Tiwari first won the Lok Sabha election in 2014 after he joined the BJP.

The Verdict

In the original video, Mr Tiwari discusses the 2009 general elections, which he had contested against Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur. This segment has been cropped and shared out of context to claim that he has already conceded defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi:

A video circulating on social media claims that Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that “the party is over” during a 2024 Lok Sabha election rally. In the video, Mr Kharge says in Hindi, “Congress is finished. Congress is dead. And now you can’t see Congress anywhere.”

The posts sharing this video claim that Mallikarjun Kharge admitted Congress has been disbanded and is no longer functioning. Archived versions of similar posts can be viewed here and here.

However, our investigation reveals that Mr Kharge’s video was edited and shared with a misleading narrative. The original video shows him quoting remarks by Congress critics 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, Mr Kharge is speaking at an election rally in Ahmedabad.

At the 12:04 timestamp, he discusses Ahmedabad and says, “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. Gandhi ji 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, UN Dhebar – all of them held the position of party president and strengthened it.”

He then says, “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 Mr Kharge said the ‘Congress party is finished’.

Logically Facts debunked several such election rally videos shared out of context. Our checks can be found here, here, and here.

The Verdict

The viral video falsely portrays Mallikarjun Kharge as saying that Congress is “over” during an election rally in Ahmedabad. In reality, he was quoting critics who claim the party is “finished.” As a result, the claim has been marked as misleading.

A video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticising Sam Pitroda, the former chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, over alleged racist remarks, has been altered and shared to falsely claim that Modi called President Droupadi Murmu dark skinned.

In a May 2, 2024, interview with The Statesman, Pitroda while trying to give an analogy for India’s diversity said that people from different regions of India resemble Chinese, Arab, White, and African races. He emphasised that despite these differences, Indians have lived together harmoniously for 70-75 years. After this interview, Pitroda was criticised for his remarks, and the Congress party distanced itself from his comments. On May 8, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh announced that Pitroda had resigned from his position in the Indian Overseas Congress.

In 15 seconds video, Modi can be heard saying, “Those who have black skin, they are all from Africa. Droupadi Murmu is also African, and because she has dark skin that’s why she should be defeated”.

The viral video is also being shared on Facebook with the same false claim.

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the viral video has been cropped from a longer video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech and has been doctored to change its meaning. In the full speech, Modi criticised Sam Pitroda for alleged racist remarks and claimed that Congress opposed President Droupadi Murmu’s candidature because of her skin color. The viral clip has been culled from a video posted on May 8, 2024 by BJP’s official YouTube channel. From the 44 minutes timestamp, Modi can be heard saying, “I got to know that there is an uncle in America who is the philosophical guide of ‘Shehzada’ and just like the third umpire in cricket this ‘Shehzada’ takes advice from the third umpire. This philosophical uncle said that those who have black skin are from Africa. This means that you are abusing several people in the country on the basis of their skin colour.”

The viral clip has been culled from a video posted on May 8, 2024 by BJP’s official YouTube channel. From the 44 minutes timestamp, Modi can be heard saying, “I got to know that there is an uncle in America who is the philosophical guide of ‘Shehzada’ and just like the third umpire in cricket this ‘Shehzada’ takes advice from the third umpire. This philosophical uncle said that those who have black skin are from Africa. This means that you are abusing several people in the country on the basis of their skin colour.” “Then I understood, that looking at the color of the skin, they (Congress) assumed that Droupadi Murmu is African, and because her skin color is black, that’s why we (Congress) should defeat her,” he further alleged.

The part before this has been edited out of the viral video to make the false claim that Modi called Murmu dark skinned. The full speech can be seen here.

(This story was originally published by BOOM, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A viral WhatsApp forward telling women voters that they won’t be allowed to vote if they have nail polish on their fingernails is fake. BOOM reached out to an Election Commission of India (ECI) official who rubbished the viral forward. 

Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha 2024 was held in several states today, with the last two phases scheduled for May 25 and June 1. Meanwhile, votes will be counted on June 4.

The viral message reads, “Attention to All Ladies, Please remove Nail polish from fingers or else you will not be allowed to Vote”.

BOOM also received the viral message on its WhatsApp number – 7700906588 – inquiring about its authenticity.

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the viral message is fake and that the ECI has not announced any rules for women voters to remove nail polish before voting.

We reached out to ECI joint director Anuj Chandak, who dismissed the viral message and said it was fake. Mr Chadak further told BOOM, “Indelible ink is applied to the skin and nail both.”

Two of BOOM’s fact-checkers also independently confirmed with polling booth officials that the viral message was fake when they went to vote. Additionally, there are no recent ECI guidelines that say that voters with nail polish will not be allowed to exercise their franchise.

We also found several examples of women voters voting in the Lok Sabha election 2024 with nail polish on their fingernails. 

The polling process by ECI can be seen below:

(This story was originally published by BOOM, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

An image purportedly showing an advertisement by the Indian dairy cooperative society Amul, featuring the Amul girl with the following Hindi text, “Vote or don’t vote, take the right decision. Your vote is priceless”, is being widely shared on social media platforms. The image was shared by Kiran Bedi, former lieutenant governor of Puducherry, on X (formerly Twitter). The post was viewed more than 14,000 times at the time of filing this story. 

The image has also gained widespread traction on Facebook. One Facebook user wrote in Hindi, “Your vote is priceless !! Truly the taste of India.”  

However, this viral advertisement is fake.

What we found

Amul called the advertisement “fake” and issued a statement on its official X handle (archive here) on May 6, 2024. The statement read, “We wish to inform you that a fake message featuring the Amul Girl is being shared on WhatsApp and social media. This advertisement has not been created by Amul. In the said post, the name of the creator of this fake advertisement is mentioned as “p kanil”, against whom Amul will take legal action. Amul strongly urges all voters to vote in the ongoing elections and strengthen our democracy. We also request you to kindly share this fake advertisement alert with those who have shared the fake message with you (sic).”

Issued in Public Interest by Amul pic.twitter.com/fZTgLySyZq

— Amul.coop (@Amul_Coop) May 6, 2024

Further, all of Amul’s cartoon advertisements are available on its website (archive here) under the section called “Amul Hits”. And despite an extensive search, we could not locate the now-viral ad on the website.

Additionally, Amul has released just three ads related to the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The first ad (archive here) was issued during the first phase of polling on April 19, followed by a second ad (archive here) during the second phase on April 25, and the latest one (archive here) was shared during the third phase on May 6.

All official ads by Amul feature the “Amul – The Taste of India” logo, which is noticeably absent in the viral image. This absence raises questions about the authenticity of the image and its association with Amul’s official advertising campaigns.

The verdict

This viral image falsely depicts the Amul girl in the viral ad to give the impression that Amul has created the ad. This ad was not created or published by Amul. 

(This story was originally published by Logically Facts, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)

A video is circulating on social media along with a claim that it shows Congress has insulted Uddhav Thackeray. The video appears to show Uddhav Thackeray being interrupted while speaking on stage. The accompanying text alleges that Congress workers from Wardha obstructed Uddhav from speaking at a rally. However, the claim the false. 

The archived version of this post can be found here.

The viral video clip is from Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) recent election campaign in Wardha, Maharashtra. Contrary to the claim made in social media posts, it does not show Uddhav Thackeray being insulted.

Firstly, the exchange between Uddhav Thackeray and others doesn’t imply any obstruction to his speech. According to the Marathi conversation, Uddhav Thackeray himself requests, “Let me speak for a few minutes because I’m short on time,” and those around him urge him to extend his speaking duration. Uddhav Thackeray then agrees, stating he will speak for a maximum of 5 minutes. This clearly indicates that nobody obstructed his speech.

Additionally, a YouTube search using relevant keywords led us to several news reports showing a longer version of the same event. According to these videos, Uddhav Thackeray went on to speak for at least another ten minutes without interruption.

According to another such report, while MVA candidate Amar Kale from Wardha was speaking, someone interrupted him, mentioning, “Uddhav Thackeray has a flight to catch and needs to leave early.” Subsequent footage shows Amar Kale encouraging Uddhav Thackeray to speak at the rally. Although Uddhav Thackeray mentions he can only speak for 5 minutes, others on stage are urging him to speak for at least 15 minutes.

News reports also highlighted the incident, stating that while other leaders of the coalition urged Uddhav Thackeray to speak, he appealed to the public that he would speak only for five minutes. Thus, from all these reports, it is evident that Uddhav Thackeray was in a hurry and intended to keep his speech brief, while the people around him encouraged him to speak for a longer period.

To sum up, this video does not show Congress workers preventing Uddhav Thackeray from speaking at a campaign meeting in Wardha.

(This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)

A video is going viral on social media claiming that Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan participated in the Congress party’s election campaign rally. The video shows a Shah Rukh Khan lookalike standing with Congress workers in an open vehicle with posters of Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders. The video was also shared by Congress’s Odisha handle.

Fact Check: We first checked whether Shah Rukh Khan attended the Congress rally, as claimed in viral reports. Although no such reports were received, stories emerged claiming that Ibrahim Qadri, who resembles Shah Rukh Khan, attended the Congress rally.

Ibrahim Qadri attended Congress candidate Praniti Shinde’s Road show in Solapur, Maharashtra. Shinde is contesting against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ram Satpute. The road show was organized by Mahavikas Aghadi, an alliance in Maharashtra that includes the Congress. Many media outlets have reported about this.

Ibrahim Qadiri is already noted for his striking resemblance to Shah Rukh Khan. His Instagram  and YouTube channels have millions of followers. Qadiri shared a video of him participating in a Congress rally in Maharashtra on Instagram.

The BJP has criticised the Congress for bringing Ibrahim Qadiri, a Shah Rukh Khan lookalike, to the Congress election rally. Shehzad Poonawala, BJP spokesperson, claimed on X that the Congress is deceiving people. The Hindustan Times has published an article on this subject.

Ibrahim Qadiri, who was born and brought up in Gujarat, lived by doing graffiti in his own country until 2017. With the advent of social media, Qadiri’s life changed. As others recognized Shah Rukh Khan’s resemblance, Ibrahim Qadiri started appearing in the same look as Shah Rukh Khan, including his hair style. Read the report published by The Statesman about Qadiri .

Conclusion: Fact Crescendo found that the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. The viral video shows Ibrahim Qadri renowned for his striking resemblance to Shahrukh Khan participating in the Congress election rally, not Shah Rukh Khan.

(This story was originally published by Fact Crescendo, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)

In a recent public address, actor Kangana Ranaut claimed that she received the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ticket to contest elections from the Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh because of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

BOOM found that the claim was false since the bill has not been brought into effect yet. On March 24, 2024, the BJP announced Kangana Ranaut as the party’s candidate to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi.

“I abide by the high command’s decision on contesting Loksabha polls,” she wrote on X while adding that she looks forward to being a “worthy Karyakarta and a reliable public servant.”

During a recent public address in Mandi’s Balh village, Ranaut spoke about how she was granted the BJP ticket due to the Women’s Reservation Bill. “The Women’s Reservation Bill, that grants 30% reservation to women (in the Lok Sabha) is the reason why I have this stage today. Because of that, your daughter from Mandi has this stage.”

Click here to view the video and here for an archive.

FACT CHECK

BOOM found that the claims are false and the Women’s Reservation Bill has not been implemented yet and will not be done so at least until 2029. The Women’s Reservation Bill, also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, seeks to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and legislative state assemblies for women.

The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on September 20, 2023, 27 years after it was first introduced in the parliament. On September 22, the Rajya Sabha, too, passed the Bill unanimously. Having been passed in both houses of the parliament, the bill now needed the President’s assent, which was given on September 28.

This meant that the bill fulfilled all requirements to become a law. However, this bill would be brought into effect only after the census and delimitation exercises were complete. A delimitation exercise involves allotting the number of seats as well as boundaries of territorial constituencies across the country for Lok Sabha and state elections. This exercise is set to take place on the basis of the census released after 2026. The centre has not yet concluded the 2021 census due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This essentially means that the bill will come into effect after the delimitation exercise, which will in turn begin after the release of the latest census. While speaking in the Lok Sabha on September 20, 2023, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the delimitation exercise would be conducted only after the 2024 general elections, and it would be at least until 2029 that the Women’s Reservation Bill is implemented. Several opposition leaders at the time had criticised this method used to implement the Women’s Reservation bill.

AAP leader Atishi had said, “Why have the provisions of delimitation and Census been included? This means that women’s reservation won’t be implemented ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. We demand that the provisions of delimitation and Census be done away with and the women’s reservation be implemented for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Kanimozhi had said that the reservation could be easily extended for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “Stop this tokenism. This bill is called Nari Shakti Vandhan Bill. Stop saluting us. We don’t want to be saluted, put on a pedestal, or worshipped. We want to be respected as equals,” she added.

(This story was originally published by BOOM, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)