Fact Check: Hemant Soren promises shrouds ahead of 2024 Jharkhand polls? No, viral video is from 2021

Hyderabad: With Jharkhand’s State Assembly election starting on November 13, chief minister Hemant Soren is hoping to secure a second term. Voting will wrap up on November 20, and the State will watch closely as results come in on November 23.

In this context, a video of Hemant Soren has been circulating online. It shows him purportedly promising free shrouds (kafans) for everyone in the State. The video is accompanied by claims suggesting that the promise of shrouds was made ahead of the 2024 State Assembly elections.

An X user shared the video and wrote, “The Chief Minister will provide free shrouds (kafans) to the people of Jharkhand. Wow, Chief Minister! In the race to stay ahead with new freebies, no effort was made to understand the meaning behind this announcement.” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false as Soren had announced free shrouds for everyone in 2021 during the second phase of Covid-19.

Upon conducting a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes, we found it published by Navbharat Times on May 25, 2021. The viral clip appears in the first 17 seconds of the 4:10-minute video.

According to the channel, Soren announced free shrouds for everyone to address the difficulties people were facing in purchasing them during the second phase of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2021.

We also found the viral clip published by Zee News on May 25, 2021. The channel stated that the Jharkhand government had announced the distribution of free shrouds for patients dying of Covid-19.

We also came across news reports from Aaj Tak and Jansatta dated May 25, 2021, which covered Soren’s announcement of providing free shrouds for those who succumbed to Covid-19.

Hence, we conclude that the video does not show Soren announcing free shrouds ahead of the 2024 Jharkhand State elections.