This video of Mallikarjun Kharge stating that Rahul Gandhi will not become the Prime Minister of India is clipped

A video (here, here and here) circulating on social media shows Indian National Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge allegedly saying in a speech that Rahul Gandhi will not become the Prime Minister of India, and further claiming that Rahul Gandhi referred to an eagle flying in the sky as a buffalo. Let’s uncover the truth behind this video.

The archived post can be found here.

Claim: The viral video shows Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge saying that Rahul Gandhi will never become Prime Minister and referring to an eagle in the sky as a buffalo.

Fact: The viral video is from a speech where Kharge was addressing the raids on the Congress party. In his full speech at a public meeting in Raipur, he discussed the weakening of the party’s leadership, stating, “If the party is weak, Rahul Gandhi will not become the Prime Minister of the country. This was their intention.” He later added the statement about an eagle being called a buffalo as a metaphor to mock the BJP’s habit of defaming the party. Both parts of the viral video are taken out of context; therefore, the claim is FALSE.

To verify the claim, we performed a reverse image search on Google, which led us to the full, original video of Mallikarjun Kharge’s speech on the Congress Party’s official YouTube channel. According to the video description, it was recorded at a public meeting held in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on 07 July 2025.

In this speech, Kharge addresses the raids conducted by investigative agencies during the Congress party convention, claiming that PM Modi and Amit Shah orchestrated the Income Tax and ED raids to sabotage the event. He emphasises that these actions were intended to intimidate party leaders, warning that if the leaders are weakened, the party’s strength in Chhattisgarh and consequently in Delhi would also diminish. At the timestamp 1:05:35 of the full video, we can hear the first part of the claim in the original context, Kharge says, “If the party is weak, Rahul Gandhi will not become the Prime Minister of the country. This was their intention.” It is clear from the full speech that the statement circulated in the viral video has been taken out of context.

After these statements, Kharge, referring to the National Herald case, questions what transpired in the case, what was revealed, and how much money was recovered. At the timestamp 1:06:55 of the video, we can hear the second part of the claim in its original context, where he says, “These people always defame the Congress party. It’s their habit; if an eagle flies in the sky, they say it’s a buffalo. This is their habit, and they try to scare people.” In this segment, Kharge is clearly taking a dig at the BJP, not making a literal statement about Rahul Gandhi.

Additionally, a Google search for any similar statements by Mallikarjun Kharge yielded no results, indicating that the viral video has been clipped and shared out of context.

To sum up, the video of Mallikarjun Kharge stating that Rahul Gandhi will not become the Prime Minister of India is a clipped version of his speech taken out of context.