President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Bharat Ratna Award, the country’s highest civilian honour, posthumously to former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao on 30 March 2024. In this context, a photo is shared on social media with a claim that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who is among the audience during the ceremony, did not applaud when P.V. Narasimha Rao’s son was receiving the award from President Droupadi Murmu. Let’s verify the authenticity of the claim through this article.
Claim: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge did not applaud when P.V. Narasimha Rao’s son was receiving his Bharat Ratna award posthumously.
Fact: The photo of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge not applauding when P.V. Narasimha Rao’s son was receiving the Bharat Ratna award is taken out of context. A full video clip of the award felicitation ceremony showed Mallikarjun Kharge applauding when P.V. Prabhakar Rao received the award from President Droupadi Murmu. Hence, the claim in the post is Misleading.
To verify the claim, we conducted a reverse image search of the viral photo which directed us to photos on the PIB’s website, where it is clearly visible that Mallikarjun Kharge was applauding when PV Prabhakar Rao received the award from President Murmu.
Furthermore, a search on YouTube with relevant keywords led us to videos (here, here and here) of President Murmu presenting the award to PV Prabhakar Rao. In one video, from 0:14 to 0:20 timestamp, Mallikarjun Kharge can be seen applauding when the award was announced, while P.V. Prabhakar Rao was proceeding to receive it. Additionally, from 0:49 to 0:57 timestamp, Kharge can be seen congratulating P.V. Prabhakar Rao after he received the award.
To sum up, the photo of Kharge not applauding when P.V. Narasimha Rao’s son was receiving his Bharat Ratna is shared out of context.
