The swearing-in ceremony of Hemant Soren, the executive president of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), as the 14th Chief Minister of Jharkhand took place on 28 November 2024, at Morhabadi Ground in Ranchi (here and here). The ceremony was attended by prominent opposition leaders from the I.N.D.I.A bloc, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (here and here). Amid this, a video clip went viral on social media (here, here and here), showing Kejriwal shaking hands with other leaders on stage but appearing to skip Rahul Gandhi. The clip sparked claims that Kejriwal deliberately refused to shake hands with Rahul Gandhi. Let’s uncover the truth behind this.
Claim: AAP leader Kejriwal snubbed Rahul Gandhi by refusing to shake hands and instead shaking hands with other leaders during the swearing in ceremony of Hemant Soren as Jharkhand’s Chief Minister in November 2024.
Fact: The 24-second viral video is from the swearing-in ceremony of Hemant Soren as Jharkhand’s 14th Chief Minister held on 28 November 2024. The full video, available on Jharkhand Government TV, shows Kejriwal first shaking hands with Rahul Gandhi, followed by other leaders. The viral video was cut after Kejriwal shook hands with Rahul Gandhi, omitting this key moment. Hence, the claim is MISLEADING.
To verify the claim, we conducted a keyword search on Google and found that the viral 24-second video clip originated from ANI’s X handle. The video, posted on 28 November, was captioned: “Ranchi: AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, his wife Sunita Kejriwal, party MP Raghav Chadha, and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann arrive at the oath ceremony of Jharkhand CM-designate Hemant Soren.” The clip also shows Kejriwal apparently skipping Rahul Gandhi while greeting other leaders on stage.
Further research led us to the full video of the Jharkhand oath ceremony, which was uploaded by Jharkhand Government TV on 28 November 2024, with a total length of 3 hours and 16 minutes. At the 2-hour, 56-minute mark, the video shows Kejriwal approaching the stage and first shaking hands with Rahul Gandhi. He then proceeds to shake hands with the individuals on both the right and left sides of Rahul Gandhi. The viral clip misleads viewers by cutting out the part where Kejriwal shakes hands with Rahul Gandhi, making it appear that he skipped him and directly greeted others.
Additionally, a 1-hour 23-minute video of the oath ceremony was uploaded on the X handle of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. In this video, at the 1-hour, 4-minute, and 58-second mark, Kejriwal is shown first shaking hands with Rahul Gandhi, followed by the individuals surrounding him. This further indicates that the viral video is incomplete.
To sum up, the viral clip claiming that Kejriwal ignored Rahul Gandhi during the swearing-in ceremony of Hemant Soren, the 14th Chief Minister of Jharjhand is an incomplete video.
