Fact Check: Congress MLA Ram Naik congratulates CM Revanth for fooling Telangana people? No, viral clip is edited

Hyderabad: A 17-foot-tall bronze statue of Telangana Thalli was unveiled in Hyderabad on Monday with the Telangana Assembly Winter Session also starting on the same day. The Telangana Congress government has completed one year of its rule in the State.

In this context, a video of Telangana Congress MLA J Ram Chander Naik allegedly congratulating chief minister A Revanth Reddy in the Assembly for successfully deceiving people for a year has gone viral.

In the clip, the MLA could be heard telling the House, “In the last one year, we were successful in deceiving the people. We are taking this forward to the people in a very inspirational manner. Most importantly, we have to congratulate the chief minister for this.” (Translated from Telugu)

The video was shared on X with the caption, “A Congress MLA who fearlessly admitted the truth.” (Archive)

Similar claims can be found here and here. (Archive 1, Archive 2)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The viral video is digitally manipulated to deliberately misconstrue the MLA's speech.

Using a keyword search, we found an unedited version of the speech made by MLA Ram Naik in the Assembly on Sakshi TV’s YouTube channel. In the video uploaded on December 12, the MLA’s speech begins at the 1:21:11-minute mark and lasts for about five minutes.

Upon analysing the video, it can be seen that the viral clip was made by combining four different parts of the speech.

In the clip, the phrase ‘in the last one year’ was taken from the 1:21:36-minute mark of the YouTube video; the phrase ‘we were successful’ from the 1:21:40-minute mark; the phrase ‘in deceiving the people’ from the 1:21:43-minute mark; and the phrase ‘most importantly, we have to congratulate the chief minister for this’ from the 1:21:17-minute mark in the YouTube video.

What did the Congress MLA say in the original video?

In his speech, the MLA said, “We are taking forward a State Anthem today, in a way that respects the sentiments of the Telangana people, especially we have to congratulate the chief minister.” (Translated from Telugu)

The MLA said, “We are taking things forward in a way that will make people forget the KCR family’s conspiracy crediting only their family as the sole reason for separate Telangana.”

He further added, “We have not only instilled the spirit of Telangana struggle in the people but have also been successful in governing in a way that fulfils the aspirations of the people while providing all the fruits to the people. Once again, the BRS party leaders and KCR family members are distorting everything to deceive people, if we welcome that too, then it is not correct.”

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the viral video was a mash-up of the MLA’s speech. Congress MLA J Ram Chander Naik did not congratulate CM Revanth Reddy for fooling the people of Telangana for a year.

The claim is false.