This viral video of Mallikarjun Kharge criticising Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav is edited

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has officially released the schedule for the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. Meanwhile, a video of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is going viral on social media (here, here), in which he is allegedly seen criticising his own party leader, Rahul Gandhi, and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. In the viral clip, Kharge is seen saying, “If you don’t stay vigilant, Rahul and Tejashwi will drown you”. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.

The archived post can be found here.

Claim: The video shows Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticising Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.

Fact: The video is edited. In the original speech, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was criticising PM Modi, Amit Shah, and the BJP over “vote chori,” not Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. In the viral video, Modi and Shah’s names were replaced with Rahul and Tejashwi. Additionally, there are no reports of Kharge criticising Rahul Gandhi or Tejashwi Yadav ahead of the 2025 Bihar elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to the full video uploaded on the Indian National Congress’s YouTube channel on 01 September 2025, titled, ‘Where is the police? Why did Kharge become enraged upon receiving the microphone? | Mallikarjun Kharge | Bihar | Gandhi Maidan’. In this video, Kharge is delivering a speech at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, Bihar. Upon reviewing the full video, we found that the viral clip was taken from the 1:37-minute mark, where Kharge is seen criticising PM Modi and the BJP over “vote chori,” saying, “Modi ji is trying to win in Bihar by stealing votes. You must be vigilant. If you are not vigilant, Modi ji and Shah will drown you.” This confirms that the viral video was edited, replacing Modi and Shah’s names with Rahul and Tejashwi.

We also found the transcript of this speech on the INC website, which confirms that Mallikarjun Kharge was criticising PM Modi, Amit Shah, and the BJP regarding ‘vote chori,’ and not Rahul Gandhi or RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. Additionally, we found no reports of him criticising Rahul Gandhi or Tejashwi Yadav ahead of the 2025 Bihar elections.

To sum up, this viral video of Mallikarjun Kharge criticising Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav is edited.