Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, a video of the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is being widely circulated on social media where the BJP leader is voicing his inhibitions in a party meeting about losing the election against Congress leader and former chief minister Kamal Nath. The top right corner of the video contains the logo of the news agency, Asian News International (ANI).
In the clip, Chouhan states in Hindi, “I’m saying several times, stop Kamal Nath. If Congress comes to power then they will start giving everyone 500 rupees per month and (cooking) gas at 1500 rupees. Forget this time, even next time we’ll not be able to win. We have already given some people 1250 rupees, they will give everyone, we have just announced for the sake of it that we’ll give everyone a (cooking) gas cylinder at 450 rupees, they will actually give because they are already giving in other states. Do anything but stop Kamal Nath.”
X (formerly Twitter) user, Pawan Dixit (@IncDixit), posted the video with the caption, “Do anything, stop Kamal Nath @ChouhanShivraj Shivraj accepted defeat, said that we were giving ₹1250…Kamal Nath will give ₹1500. We were making the promise of cooking gas for Rs 450, but they will actually give gas cylinder for Rs 500. They are already giving in other states.” The tweet has over 60,500 views, 2,600 likes and 1,600 retweets. (Archive)
कुछ भी करो कमलनाथ को रोको @ChouhanShivraj
शिवराज ने मानी हार, बोले हम ₹1250 दे रहे थे…कमलनाथ ₹1500 देंगे। हम 450 में रसोई गैस का झाँसा दे रहे थे, वो 500 रूपये में हक़ीक़त में गैस सिलेंडर देंगे। वो दूसरे प्रदेशों में दे भी रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/eTtXOKx07w
— Pawan Dixit 🇮🇳 (@IncDixit) October 31, 2023
Another X user, @ChobeyManisha, also shared the video with the same caption. The post has received over 13,000 views, 609 likes and 338 retweets. (Archive)
मामा ने मध्य प्रदेश में हार मान ली है
हम तो 450 रुपया में गैस सिलेंडर देने का
झांसा दे रहे थे कांग्रेस सही में दूसरे प्रदेशों में
₹500 में गैस सिलेंडर दे रही है , यह बात
स्वयं मामा अपनी मीटिंग में कह रहे हैं?? pic.twitter.com/GVZXlNZ9Kd— मनीषा चौबे , 𝙄𝙉𝘿𝙄𝘼 (@ChobeyManisha) October 31, 2023
The video was also shared multiple times on Facebook.
Fact Check
The audio used in the viral video appears fake because of multiple reasons. First, in the initial part of the clip, where the video has Chouhan’s face zoomed in, there is no lip sync. In fact, throughout the clip, there is not a single frame where the speaker’s lip movement matches the audio. Secondly, there is no ambient sound. Thirdly, the entire statement is uttered in the same tone without any voice modulation or change in pitch. Besides, the ANI logo visible in the clip is not how it is in other ANI bulletins or video reports. The logo seems to be cropped from somewhere and imposed on the video. All these suggest that the video has been tampered with.
Next, we ran a keyword search on Google, which led us to the original video posted by ANI on one of their official pages on X, on June 13, 2023. The video has no audio and was posted by ANI with the caption, “#WATCH | Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan holds a review meeting with ministers of the state government and senior officials over the incident of fire at Bhopal’s Satpura Bhawan.”
#WATCH | Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan holds a review meeting with ministers of the state government and senior officials over the incident of fire at Bhopal’s Satpura Bhawan. pic.twitter.com/XyIsjd5LA0
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) June 13, 2023
ANI also uploaded the clip on YouTube Shorts, where music has been added to the clip.
The Times of India report published on June 13, 2023, covers the same incident, stating, “Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday morning held a review meeting regarding the fire incident that broke out in Satpura Bhavan on Monday evening.” The report further added that “The meeting was organised at the CM’s residence. Chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, director general of police (DGP), Sudhir Saxena, Home Minister, Narottam Mishra, health minister, Prabhu Ram Chaudhury, medical education minister Vishwas Sarang and other officials were present.”
None of the reports make any mention of Chouhan’s supposed remarks about Kamal Nath and Congress’s chances in the state polls.
This confirms that the viral video shows footage from a review meeting chaired by MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan after an incident of fire. It is unrelated to the upcoming MP elections and no comments regarding Kamal Nath were made. A fake audio clip has been used in the viral video.
Abira Nath is an intern at Alt News.
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