A 24-second video clip (here, here & here) circulating on social media shows Rahul Gandhi standing and moving Mallikarjun Kharge’s seat during a meeting, after which Kharge stands up. The claim accompanying this video is that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was asked to get up and vacate his seat by Rahul Gandhi. Let’s uncover the truth behind this claim.
Claim: Video shows Rahul Gandhi asking Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to get up and vacate his seat during a meeting.
Fact: This viral claim is false. In the full video, during the inauguration of the new Congress party headquarters in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi stands up and pulls back Kharge’s chair to allow him to proceed to the stage for his speech. Rahul then sits in another seat allotted to him. Hence the claim is FALSE.
To find the truth behind this viral video, we conducted a reverse image search of the keyframes from this video and discovered that the full video was live-streamed on the Congress’ official YouTube channel on 15 January 2025 (here & here). The video shows the inauguration of the new Congress party headquarters in Delhi, with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and other Congress leaders present at the event.
The full video has the sequence of events regarding the claim. After the inauguration of the Congress party headquarters, K. C. Venugopal, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Ajay Maken were seated on the stage in a row. Rahul Gandhi is seen sitting in his designated seat. Then at the 46:45 minute mark, Ajay Maken invited Mallikarjun Kharge to speak. At that point, Rahul Gandhi stood up, pulled Kharge’s chair back, and helped him proceed towards the mike to speak. After Kharge began his speech, Rahul Gandhi returned and sat in the chair allotted to him. This incident is clearly visible in the collage below. After Kharge finished his speech, he returned and sat in his chair. There is no moment in the full video where Rahul Gandhi forced Kharge to get up or sit in his seat.
To sum up, the claim that Rahul Gandhi asked Mallikarjun Kharge to get up and vacate his chair is false.
