A video featuring Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is being shared on social media claiming that Kharge agreed that Congress is finished. In the footage, Kharge can be heard saying “Congress is finished…congress is dead…and now you will not see Congress anywhere” Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge publicly stated that the Congress is ‘finished.’
Fact: The video has been edited and shared out of context. In the original video, Mallikarjun Kharge stated “Ahmedabad is a city of immense historical significance. It is the birthplace of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, and Dadabhai Naoroji, who contributed greatly to Gujarat’s prominence. Icons such as Gandhiji, Sardar Patel, Bholabhai Desai, and Vitthalbhai Patel, along with distinguished figures like the first Speaker of our Lok Sabha, Malvankar ji, and many others, laid the foundations of our nation. Among these, three presidents of our Congress Party—Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, and UN Dhebar—played pivotal roles in strengthening the party. This strong foundation, particularly in Ahmedabad, cannot be dismantled by anyone. Some people say that the Congress is finished, that it is dead and gone. I ask those who make these claims to remember that Ahmedabad is the holy place of Mahatma Gandhi. Surprisingly, there are those from this very place who seek to destroy Gandhiji’s principles.” Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On performing reverse image search using the keyframes of the video, we discovered the longer version of this video on the Indian National Congress YouTube channel. It shows a rally held by the Indian National Congress in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 3 May 2024, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
On reviewing the full video, we found that the video has been edited and shared out of context. From 12:03 timestamp Kharge can be heard saying “Ahmedabad is a city of immense historical significance. It is the birthplace of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, and Dadabhai Naoroji, who contributed greatly to Gujarat’s prominence. Icons such as Gandhiji, Sardar Patel, Bholabhai Desai, and Vitthalbhai Patel, along with distinguished figures like the first Speaker of our Lok Sabha, Malvankar ji, and many others, laid the foundations of our nation. Among these, three presidents of our Congress Party—Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, and UN Dhebar—played pivotal roles in strengthening the party. This strong foundation, particularly in Ahmedabad, cannot be dismantled by anyone. Some people say that the Congress is finished, that it is dead and gone. I ask those who make these claims to remember that Ahmedabad is the holy place of Mahatma Gandhi. Surprisingly, there are those from this very place who seek to destroy Gandhiji’s principles.”
The original clip is edited from the timestamps 14:34 and 14:47 and shared as a viral post. The speech document uploaded on the official All India Congress Committee website also proves that this video is manipulated and shared.
From these, it is clear that Kharge was referring to people who claim that the Congress is finished and was not sharing his opinion.
To sum up, the video clip of Mallikarjun Kharge claiming that Congress is ‘finished’ is edited.
