Old video of a man slapping Delhi CM Kejriwal is shared as a recent attack on him during a 2024 Lok Sabha election rally - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 20, 2024
A video (here, here, here, & here) showing a man slapping Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal is being widely shared across social media platforms. The claim accompanying the video suggests that it shows a recent attack on Kejriwal during a 2024 Lok Sabha election rally, following his release from jail on interim bail in the Delhi liquor policy case. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Arvind Kejriwal was recently slapped by a man during a 2024 Lok Sabha election rally, following his release from jail.
Fact: This viral video dates back to 2019. According to reports, during a 2019 Lok Sabha election roadshow in the Moti Nagar area of Delhi on 04 May 2019, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a man named Suresh Chauhan. There are no news reports about any such attacks on Delhi CM Kejriwal during  his 2024 election rallies. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To check the veracity of the viral claim, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the video. This search led us to a video uploaded by ‘NDTV’ on YouTube on 04 May 2019, titled “Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Slapped During Roadshow In Delhi.” According to this report, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a man during a 2019 Lok Sabha roadshow roadshow in the Moti Nagar area on 04 May 2019. Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party chief, was standing on an open vehicle, canvassing in the New Delhi constituency, when an unidentified man jumped up and attacked him. AAP blamed the BJP for this attack.
Further keyword searches led us to several reports (here, here, here, & here) published in May 2019 about this incident. According to a Deccan Chronicle report published on 10 May 2019, the person who attacked Kejriwal was identified as 33-year-old Suresh Chauhan, a spare part dealer in Kailash Park, Delhi. The attacker, Suresh, said nobody asked him to attack the AAP chief and he is not affiliated with any political party. He also stated that he did not understand why he attacked Kejriwal, and he regrets his actions. Additional news reports regarding Suresh’s statement about this incident can be seen here and here.
There are no news reports about any such attack on Delhi CM Kejriwal during his 2024 election rallies.
To sum up, an old video of a man slapping Delhi CM Kejriwal is being shared as a recent attack on him during a 2024 Lok Sabha election rally after his release from jail on interim bail in the Delhi liquor policy case.