A post accompanying a video of Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh is being widely shared on social media (here, here, & here). In this, Digvijay is seen directing his security personnel to drive away a woman who had come to meet him. Digvijay Singh can be heard saying, “This woman is mad, throw her out.” The claim accompanying the video suggests that the woman went to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh seeking Rs. 8,500 under the Congress’s ‘guarantee card’ scheme (Mahalaxmi scheme) and was subsequently chased away by Singh. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals showing Digvijay Singh chasing away a woman who had come to collect Rs. 8,500 under Congress’s ‘guarantee card’ scheme.
Fact: According to news reports, this viral video dates back to February 2024 and is not related to the Congress’s ‘guarantee card’ scheme. The incident occurred on 21 February 2024, when a woman repeatedly tried to meet Digvijay Singh despite security personnel’s attempts to stop her, leading to his angry outburst. Digvijay Singh shouted and directed security not to allow her entry. The woman in the viral video is Dr. Leena Sharma, a Congress worker from Guna district. Speaking to the media after the incident, she said that she went to meet Digvijay Singh to seek the Varanasi MP ticket to contest against Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The Congress party had promised in its manifesto during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that if it formed the government, it would give Rs. 1 lakh annually (or Rs. 8,500 per month) to the woman heading every poor family under the Mahalaxmi scheme. However, in the election results announced on 04 June 2024, the I.N.D.I.A bloc did not secure a majority, and the NDA formed the government at the Center for the third time. This video is being shared amid news reports (here & here) about women lining up at the Congress party office in Lucknow, to get ‘guarantee cards’ regarding the cash transfer promise made by the Congress during the election campaign.
Upon carefully observing the viral video, we noticed a watermark of an Instagram account named ‘the_madhya_pradeshmp’. Using this as a cue, we located the video posted on this Instagram account on 21 February 2024, with the description: “Digvijay Singh pushed the female worker out!” From this information, it is evident that the video is old and predates the start of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Furthermore, to learn more about this viral video, we conducted a relevant keyword search that led us to several news reports. According to an NDTV Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh report, the incident occurred on 21 February 2024, during Digvijay Singh’s political tour in Gwalior, where he was meeting with local party workers. The report stated that despite security personnel’s attempts to stop her, a woman repeatedly tried to meet Singh, leading to his angry outburst. Digvijay Singh was reported to have shouted, “She is mad, throw her out” (translated from Hindi), directing security not to allow her entry.
According to ‘MP Tak’ report, the woman in the viral video is Dr. Leena Sharma, a Congress worker from Guna district. Speaking to the media after the incident, she said that he went to meet Digvijay Singh to seek Varanasi MP ticket to contest against Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The woman had also said that she is like a little girl for Digvijay Singh, I have no resentment against Digvijay Singh. I had come to meet him, he asked me to leave so I will meet him later.
To sum up, an old video is being falsely shared as visuals of Digvijay Singh driving away a woman who had come to collect Rs. 8,500 under the Congress’s ‘guarantee card’ scheme
