A video clip of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is being shared on social media, claiming that he expressed his wish to be reborn as a Muslim. Let’s verify this claim through this article.
Claim: Siddaramaiah has expressed a desire to be reborn as a Muslim in his next life.
Fact: The viral video is a clipped segment from a longer speech Siddaramaiah delivered in a public meeting. Here, he was critiquing former Prime Minister of India, H. D. Deve Gowda, for his alliance with the BJP, quoting Gowda’s past statement about wishing to be reborn as a Muslim. Hence, the claim made in the viral post is False.
To confirm the authenticity of the viral video, we used various internet searches, focusing on key phrases related to Siddaramaiah’s alleged statement. Our investigation led to several news reports (here, here and here) about the context of Siddaramaiah’s speech.
Reportedly, on 10 March 2024, Siddaramaiah was addressing a public meeting at a felicitation function for Congress MLC Puttanna. He criticised H. D. Deve Gowda for allying with the BJP and quoted Gowda, saying, “It’s quite surprising to me that Mr. Gowda has now joined the BJP and has been praising him. Mr. Gowda had said that he would wish to be born as a Muslim in his next birth and had always stated that he would be against the BJP.”
A full version of Siddaramaiah’s speech is available on TV9 Kannada’s YouTube channel (also check this and this). At the timestamp of 18:34, he quotes Deve Gowda as saying, “This Deve Gowda… I will never join BJP for any reason… if there is a next life, I wish to be born as a Muslim.” The viral video clips out the context of Siddaramaiah quoting Deve Gowda, making it seem as if it were Siddaramaiah’s own statement.
To sum up, the viral video misrepresents Siddaramaiah’s speech, falsely portraying his reference to Deve Gowda’s statement as his own sentiment.
