Lighthouse Journalism found a video being widely shared over social media platforms. In the video, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and MP, former CM Bihar, president of JD (U) Nitish Kumar were seen addressing a press briefing together.
In the video, Nitish Kumar can be heard saying, “We will try to bring as many political parties as possible together across the country.” The video is being shared with the claim that Nitish Kumar is now set to join Rahul Gandhi in the INDIA bloc’s protest against alleged voter roll irregularities.
During the investigation we found that the video is old and not recent. Nitish Kumar has not joined hands with Rahul Gandhi recently.
Claim:
Instagram user chetan_dhaduk_d shared the video with claims suggesting that it was recent.
Other users are also sharing the video suggesting it to be from a recent meet.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
We found the screengrab from the video in a news report from 14 July 2023.
We also found the video posted by ANI on April 12, 2023 where the then Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said, “We will try to unite as many political parties as we can and move forward together.”
We also found other pictures from the same press conference.
The report said: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during a press conference, in New Delhi on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.
We also found a report about the same on the Times of India website.
Conclusion: An old video of Rahul Gandhi and Nitish Kumar meeting is being shared as recent with claims that Kumar extended support for the INDIA bloc’s protest. The viral claim is misleading.
