A video of Rajasthan minister and BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena allegedly stating that “if BJP wins 400 seats, then Modi ji will end the reservation and change the Constitution” is being shared on social media (here, here, and here). Let’s verify the viral video shared.
Claim: Kirodi Lal Meena said that “if BJP wins 400 seats, then Modi ji will end the reservation and change the Constitution.”
Fact: The video is clipped and shared. In the original video, Kirodi Lal stated, “The Congress is spreading a misconception that if Modi gets more than 400 seats, he’ll abolish reservations and alter the Constitution. This misinformation campaign aims to mislead innocent voters for their support. Modi himself stated in Barmer that even if Bhimrao Ambedkar were alive, the Constitution wouldn’t change. Amit Shah also assured no interference with reservations. I’m here to reassure my SC-ST brothers that they can trust us. Let’s make Om Birla victorious by voting for the lotus symbol on the 26th.” Hence, the claim made in the video is FALSE.
On conducting a relevant keyword search on the viral video claim, we found that numerous social media users shared it. In response, some users commented that the video was edited.
Using the information from the video, we looked for the First India news channel by identifying the microphone shown in the viral footage, and found a longer version of the viral video on its YouTube channel uploaded on 22 April 2024. In the original video, he mentions, “The Congress is spreading a misconception that if Modi gets more than 400 seats, he’ll abolish reservations and alter the Constitution. This misinformation campaign aims to mislead innocent voters for their support. Modi himself stated in Barmer that even if Bhimrao Ambedkar were alive, the Constitution wouldn’t change. Amit Shah also assured no interference with reservations. I’m here to reassure my SC-ST brothers that they can trust us. Let’s make Om Birla victorious by voting for the lotus symbol on the 26th.”
Further investigation led to a tweet (archived post) by Kirori Lal Meena himself, clarifying the statement. He posted “Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has made it clear that even if Baba Saheb Ambedkar himself comes, the reservation will not end. Some mischievous elements share my incomplete statement on social media with the opposite claim. They should stop doing this otherwise I will be forced to take legal action” while posting a one-minute-long video.
To sum up, BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena did not say that if BJP wins 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it will change the constitution.
