Comments by the head of India’s opposition Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge have been taken out of context on social media to falsely claim that he said his party would take money from Hindus so that it could be “distributed among Muslims”. He was in fact responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of a proposal by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to conduct a study on wealth inequality in India.
One of the false to inform was published on September 2, 2024, and featured a 27-second clip of Kharge giving a speech.
“You know what Congress does? These Congressmen come into your homes, loot your banks, and then distribute your money to the people outside, to the Muslims,” he said in the clip.
The message read: “Money is being paid out from the pockets of Hindus to Muslims!”
“Congress National President has said it clearly! Congress has only one motive: to break Hindu banks and distribute money to Muslims,” the caption continued.
The video has been viewed more than 1,400 times after it was shared by a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who has more than 5,600 followers on Facebook.
It was also shared with similar claims on X here And here.
This false claim came to light after Gandhi said in a speech that the Congress Party’s manifesto would outline how wealth in Indian society would be distributed among different sections of the population if the party came to power.
Indian media reported Modi said the plan would mean “taking” wealth from Hindus and redistributing it to Muslims, but Gandhi said it only involved an inquiry into “how much injustice is taking place” (archived link).
The fake news also surfaced ahead of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana, expected in September and October respectively.
However, original footage of Kharge’s speech shows that the false reports took his comments out of context.
Modi’s accusation
A reverse search for a keyframe from the cut video yielded a longer version published on the verified YouTube channel of the Congress party on May 3, 2024 during the Indian general elections (archived link).
“Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge addresses the audience in Ahmedabad, Gujarat,” the video caption reads.
Below is a screenshot of the clip shared in the fake news (left) and the video uploaded to Congress’ YouTube channel (right):
About 31:50 In the YouTube video, Kharge said in Hindi: “We are going to do a caste census to see how many educated people there are in different places, in different communities, how many graduates there are, how much income there is, how much income there is per capita. We are going to do a caste census.”archived link)
He then said, “Then Modi immediately said” before making the comments in the fake message.
“We (Congress) are not going to divide, we are not giving (anything) to anyone by taking something. Please forgive me, but the kind of thoughts that Modi is spreading is wrong. It is wrong for the society, it is wrong for the country and it is wrong for all of us,” he continued.
AFP has debunked several false claims made about politicians during India’s April-June 2024 general elections, including: here, here And here.
