Fact Check: Mallikarjun Kharge slams Maha Kumbh photo ops but attends Iftar party? Find the facts here
An image has gone viral with the claim that Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge recently attended an Iftar party even as he criticised ruling party leaders for lining up for Maha Kumbh Mela.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 6 March 2025 4:44 PM IST
Claim: The image shows Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attending a recent Iftar party.
Fact: The claim is misleading. The viral image shows Kharge at an Iftar party in Bengaluru in 2006.
Hyderabad: In January, during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge criticised BJP leaders for taking repeated holy dips for the benefit of the cameras. He questioned whether these rituals could end poverty or feed the hungry, stating, āI donāt question anyoneās faith, but while children go hungry and labourers remain unpaid, they spend thousands competing for dips in the Ganga.ā
As Ramazan began on March 2, an image of Mallikarjun Kharge attending an Iftar party has been circulating on social media, suggesting it is recent. The inlaid text on the image, which takes a swipe at Kharge, reads, āDoes having Iftar meals reduce poverty, Kharge Ji?ā
A user shared the image tagging Kharge in a post on X and captioned it, āWhile embezzling the rightful share of the poor in India may not eradicate poverty. However, there is the determination to eliminate the poor entirely.ā (Translated from English)
In response to Khargeās remarks on holy dips at the Kumbh Mela, several social media users shared the image after Ramzan began. (access links here, here, here and here)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The image is from 2006.
A reverse image search led us to the same image published by The Hindu Images, stating that it was captured during an Iftar party in Bangalore in 2006 when Kharge was president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).
The caption read, āThe KPCC President M Mallikarjuna Kharge (right) along with other leaders at an Iftar party, in Bangalore on October 23, 2006.ā
Furthermore, we searched for information on Iftar parties attended by Kharge recently but found no publicly available details about his participation in any such events in 2025 or 2024. However, we found that he attended an Iftar party in Patna, Bihar, in 2023. He was also present at Baba Siddiqueās Iftar party in Mumbai in 2019 and an Iftar gathering hosted by Sonia Gandhi in 2015.
Therefore, we conclude that the viral image is from 2006; it is not recent. The claim is misleading.
