By Srijit Das
A cropped video of Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Indian National Congress, is circulating with a false claim that it shows him revealing plans of the party to distribute people's wealth among Muslims once Congress is elected to power.
BOOM found that in the original video, Kharge addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accusation regarding the Congress manifesto and called him out for spreading misinformation about the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that the Congress manifesto proposes a comprehensive survey of all assets in the country, including gold owned by women, especially tribal women, aiming for equal redistribution, on April 21, 2024 in Banswara, Rajasthan. Modi also claimed that the manifesto suggests collecting and distributing assets to "those with more kids," insinuating the Muslim community. BOOM fact-checked PM's misleading claims; read it here.
In the 29-second video Kharge can be heard saying, "Do you know what the Congress people are doing? The Congress people are entering your house, breaking the cupboards, taking out all the money and distributing it among all the people outside, they are distributing it among the Muslims... those who have more children will get more. Brother, if you don't have children, what should I do?"
The video is being peddled with a Hindi caption that translates to, "God has given you intelligence and the power to hear, so listen to this guy who is speaking so clearly".
(Original Text in Hindi: भगवान ने आपको बुद्धि और सुनने की शक्ति दी है तो इस बंदे को सुन लो जो कि इतना स्पष्ट बोल रहा है)
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive. BOOM also received the video on its helpline for verification.
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Fact Check
BOOM found that in the original speech Kharge quoted Modi and condemned him for spreading misinformation about the Congress manifesto for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
We noticed that the viral video is excerpted from a speech delivered by the Congress president in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on May 3, 2024. The speech was also streamed live on the official YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress.
From 31:49 minutes onwards, Kharge speaks about the Congress manifesto, which pledges to conduct a nationwide census if the party comes into power. Kharge said,"...and there is one equity justice, in this equity justice we only said that to conduct caste census. We are going to conduct caste census to see how many educated people there are in every place, in which communities, how many graduates are there, how much income is there... what is the per capita income. To see this, we are going to do a caste census. So, Modi Saheb immediately said – Do you know what the Congress people are doing? The Congress people are entering your house, breaking the cupboards, taking out all the money and distributing it among all the people outside, they are distributing it among the Muslims, those who have more children will get more. Brother, if you don't have children, what should I do?"
He further said, "But we (the Congress) are not going to distribute, we are not going to throw anyone out like this. Sorry Modi Saheb, such ideas which he is spreading, are wrong, wrong for the society, wrong for the country and wrong for all of us."
Later on, the Congress president also criticised Modi for his comments on the 'mangalsutra' during his speech in Gujarat and accused the prime minister of inciting people during the Lok Sabha elections.
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