Recently, a video clip (here, here and here) of the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai, apparently asking people to vote for Congress Party candidate Bhupesh Baghel, has been circulating on social media. In the video, Sai is heard supporting Baghel, who filed his nomination for the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat from the Congress. We fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Chhattisgarh BJP CM Vishnu Deo Sai appealed for people to vote for the Congress party Lok Sabha candidate from Rajnandgaon Bhupesh Baghel.
Fact: The video is an edited version of Vishnu Deo Sai’s speech at a political meeting in Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh. In the original speech, he was quoting his opposition leader from Congress in Chhattisgarh, Charandas Mahant, who asked people to vote for Bhupesh Baghel in the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha Constituency. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To verify the viral claim, we began our investigation by conducting a keyword search to locate speeches in which Vishnu Deo Sai discussed Bhupesh Baghel and his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections. The search directed us to a speech (here, here and here (archive link)) by Sai at a political rally in Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh, on 3 April 2024.
In this speech (archive link), starting from the 3:15 minute mark, we noticed the portion that is seen in the viral clip. From the 3:07 minute mark, we gained a better understanding of the context of Sai’s comments.
He said, ‘one of our candidates told me that yesterday Bhupesh Baghel had filed a nomination in Rajnandgaon. At a meeting held there, the opposition leader from here, Charandas Mahant told locals to make Bhupesh Baghel win the elections. He is the only person who can hit Modi on his head.’
Considering the full context of Sai’s speech, it is clear that he was not asking people to vote for Bhupesh but rather was quoting another person who had said that. The viral video was strategically edited to imply that he was supporting Baghel by clipping out a few lines from his speech.
In addition, we found (here, here, and here) that an FIR had been registered by the Civil Lines Police Station in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, based on a complaint filed by the BJP in connection with this edited video, which is reportedly under investigation now.
To sum up, the claim that Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai was asking voters to support Bhupesh Baghel in a speech is false. The viral video was taken out of context and edited.
