Fact Check: Kejriwal ignores Rahul Gandhi during Soren’s swearing ceremony? No, viral video is clipped to mislead
A video from Hemant Soren’s swearing-in ceremony has been circulating, claiming to show Arvind Kejriwal deliberately avoiding shaking hands with Rahul Gandhi.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 29 Nov 2024 11:12 AM GMT
Claim: The video shows Arvind Kejriwal ignoring and not shaking hands with Rahul Gandhi during Hemant Soren’s swearing-in ceremony on November 28.
Fact: The claim is false. The viral video is clipped. The extended version shows Kejriwal shaking hands with Rahul.
Hyderabad: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren was sworn in as Jharkhand chief minister on November 28, following the INDIA bloc’s resounding victory in the State Assembly elections. The swearing-in ceremony, held at Ranchi’s Morabadi Ground, was attended by prominent leaders of the INDIA Opposition alliance.
Notable attendees included the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav.
A video of the ceremony has been making rounds on social media, showing Arvind Kejriwal shaking hands with Congress leader and Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, seated beside Rahul Gandhi. The claim alleges that Kejriwal deliberately avoided shaking hands or acknowledging Rahul Gandhi.
A user on X shared the video and wrote, “Kejriwal did not shake hands with Rahul Gandhi…It is clear that AAP is not in the mood to give Congress any importance in the Delhi elections.”
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim was false as the video was clipped. The extended version shows Kejriwal shaking hands with Rahul before Shivakumar.
We conducted a keyword search on X and came across two clips shared by a user. The first clip does not show Kejriwal shaking hands with Rahul Gandhi, while the second clearly shows them greeting each other and shaking hands before Shivakumar. (Archive)
Following this lead, we searched for the swearing-in ceremony video on YouTube and found a live stream over three hours long on Jharkhand’s government channel on November 28. At the 2:53:00-hour timestamp, the video shows Kejriwal, accompanied by his wife Sunita Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP leader Raghav Chadha, being welcomed to the event by Soren’s wife, Kalpana Soren. At the 2:56:00 timestamp, Kejriwal is seen stepping onto the stage, and at 2:56:06, he shakes hands with Rahul Gandhi, followed by DK Shivakumar. He then greets Mallikarjun Kharge and Mamata Banerjee with folded hands.
We also came across the swearing-in ceremony video published by Live Hindustan on November 28. In this video, Kejriwal was seen shaking hands with Rahul Gandhi at the 49:28-minute timestamp.
Hence, we conclude that the viral video has been clipped to mislead the public. The claim that Kejriwal ignored Rahul during Soren’s swearing-in ceremony is false.
