Fact Check: Party workers survive on 5 kilos of our ration—Amit Shah? No, the NDTV graphic is fabricated
An NDTV graphic has been circulating online, claiming Amit Shah as saying that party workers work for political parties on social media in exchange for the 5 kg ration dole given to them.
By - Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:NDTV reported Amit Shah as saying that party workers work for political parties on social media in exchange for the 5 kg ration dole given to them.
Fact:The claim is false. No such statement has been made by the Home Minister, and the viral NDTV graphic is fabricated.
Amid the intensifying election campaign in Bihar, a graphic purportedly from NDTV has been circulating, allegedly quoting Union Home Minister Amit Shah as saying that party workers work for political parties on social media in exchange for the 5 kg ration dole given to them.
The English translation of the alleged statement quoted on the graphic reads, “All the workers on social media, no matter which party they belong to, are surviving on our 5 kilos of ration!!”
Congress leader Surendra Rajput shared the graphic with the caption, “Are BJP folks giving out 5 kilos of ration from their maternal uncle's house?” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found the claim false, as the NDTV graphic is fabricated.
We conducted a keyword search but found that the alleged statement by the Home Minister about providing doles to party workers was not reported by any media outlet, including NDTV.
The viral graphic contains the text “Powerplay” and “Bihar Assembly Elections 2025.” Using this as a lead, we conducted another keyword search on NDTV’s official X handle and found eighteen identical graphics in the same format, quoting Shah, posted in a thread on November 1. None of these graphics carried the alleged statement.
According to the channel, the graphics quote Shah’s statements from the Election Changer Session during his conversation with NDTV CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal in Patna. The graphics quoted Shah praising Bihar and its people as among the most politically informed, highlighting development under Nitish Kumar, including improvements in law and order and highway development and criticising the Opposition on their stance against SIR. However, we did not find the viral graphic published by the channel.
Next, we compared the viral graphic with the original graphics and identified clear signs of manipulation. A white highlight box had been overlaid on the original quote, also hiding half of the red band on the right corner, and a fabricated quote was then pasted over this white highlight. The font on the viral graphic also does not match the original ones.
We also reviewed Shah’s two-hour-long conversation with Rahul Kanwal, which was published by NDTV on November 2.
During the conversation, Shah answered questions posed by Kanwal on issues such as Maoism, infiltration in Bihar, economic crimes, Bihar elections, jungle raj and promises made by RJD leader and CM candidate Tejashwi Yadav. However, we did not find the viral alleged statement of giving dole to party workers.
On November 3, NDTV also reported that the 5 kg ration statement attributed to Shah is fake.
Therefore, we conclude that the viral graphic is fabricated. Amit Shah did not make any such statement, and NDTV did not report it.
