Fact Check: Video of Nirmala Sitharaman speaking to media is from 2023 post-budget press conference, not 2024

Hyderabad: A video of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s interaction with a journalist has gone viral on social media, with the claim that it shows her responding angrily to a journalist’s question during a press conference after she announced the Interim Budget 2024 in the Lok Sabha on February 1.

“Nirmala Sitharaman held a press conference & a journalist asked a question about budget. She went arrogant. Look at blood boiling expressions. A neutral media would rip this govt apart into pieces for this (sic),” wrote an X user while sharing the video.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is from a 2023 press conference after the budget was presented.

Upon a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found it on X posted by users in February 2023. One of the users captioned the video as an ‘arrogant and shameful remark by Finance Minister #Budget2023.’ Here’s the video posted by another X user in February 2023.

The above posts confirm that the video is old. The video also carried the logo of the media outlet Brut. Taking this as a cue, we ran a relevant keyword search and found the video published by Brut India on YouTube on February 1, 2023. “This was FM’s reply when a journalist tried to convey the Opposition’s view on the Budget,” read the title.

We also came across a report by the Mint on Sitharaman’s press conference post Budget 2023. According to it, when a reporter pointed out that Opposition parties had said the Union Budget 2023 was not good enough, FM Sitharaman asked the specifics about the opposition’s criticism and quickly moved on from the question.

Hence, we conclude that the viral clip is from the 2023 post-budget press conference and is being falsely linked to the 2024 budget presented by the finance minister.