On 09 July 2025, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress jointly held a rally in Bihar, protesting the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming 2025 Assembly elections. The rally featured key leaders like Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi. According to news reports, a brief controversy arose when Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar and Purnia MP Rajesh Ranjan (Pappu Yadav) were stopped from boarding an open van moments after Rahul Gandhi had climbed aboard, even though leaders like Tejashwi Yadav were earlier allowed onto the same platform (here, here).
Following the incident, a video of Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar is going viral on social media (here, here, and here). In the video, Kanhaiya says, “The son of a king will not become a king. In a democracy, votes will decide who our ruler will be. And this democracy is the foundation of India.” The video is being shared with claims that Kanhaiya Kumar is criticising Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav after the 09 July 2025 Opposition rally in Bihar. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.
Claim: The video shows Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar criticising Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav, after the 09 July 2025 opposition rally in Bihar.
Fact: The viral video dates back to 27 July 2023 and is unrelated to the 09 July 2025 Opposition rally in Bihar. It features Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech at the “Behtar Bharat Ki Buniyaad” Indian Youth Congress (IYC) Youth Convention in Bengaluru. In the video, he talks about democratic values, stating that leadership should be decided by votes, not lineage. He does not mention or criticise Rahul Gandhi or Tejashwi Yadav. His comments were in response to PM Modi’s remarks on the INDIA bloc. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to an extended version (archived) of Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech, available on the Facebook page of the Indian Youth Congress. The video was live-streamed on 27 July 2023. As per the details provided, Kanhaiya delivered this speech on the second day of the “Behtar Bharat Ki Buniyaad” IYC Youth Convention held in Bengaluru.
At the 15:10 timestamp, Kanhaiya Kumar says that every person born in India, regardless of caste, gender, or religion, is a citizen of the country. He adds that being a citizen means that the son of a king will not automatically become a king; in a democracy, it is the vote that decides who will lead. He emphasises that democracy is the foundation of India. Kanhaiya Kumar did not make any statement against Congress or Rahul Gandhi, or Tejashwi Yadav at any point during the entire speech.
According to media reports (here, here, and here), Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the INDIA bloc by saying that organisations like Indian Mujahideen and Popular Front of India also have ‘India’ in their names, but that doesn’t make them Indian. In his speech, Kanhaiya Kumar responded to this remark and criticised PM Modi for equating the opposition alliance with such organisations.
To sum up, the viral video is from 2023 and has no connection to the July 2025 Opposition rally in Bihar. Kanhaiya Kumar was not criticising Rahul Gandhi or Tejashwi Yadav in the video.