An old video of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appearing unsteady and stumbling while getting into a car, has been revived and shared with a misleading claim that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was captured on camera in an inebriated state after becoming the CM.
The 18 seconds long video shows Mann clicking pictures with his followers and flashing the victory sign. Later, Mann can be seen stumbling and is escorted to his car by a few security personnel.
The former comedian has been ridiculed and accused of appearing at public events drunk, in the past. According to news reports, Mann took a vow to never drink again, at an AAP event in 2019, with his mother by his side.
The video is being shared in this context.
The clip is doing rounds with a sarcastic Hindi caption which roughly translates to, "Punjab's next chief minister is celebrating his victory by getting sloshed".
(Original Text in Hindi: जीत की खुशी में फूल टाईट होकर निकले हैं पंजाब के अगले मुख्यमंत्री)
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Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search using a screenshot from the video and found a tweet carrying the same video published on March 4, 2017. National Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga tweeted the video then taking a dig at Bhagwant Mann.
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We also found a India Today article published on March 9, 2017 reporting about the incident. The article carried several screenshots of the video in its feature image section.
It stated, "Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann, Punjab's possible chief ministerial candidate, was seen trembling trying to get inside his car. He is so tired, so exhausted, so worn out, that we ran out of adjectives to define his weariness."
Furthermore, it reported, "The man is exhausted. The man is tired. It's not easy to campaign for two years and not stumble."
BOOM could not independently establish if Mann was inebriated in the video. However, we can confirm that the video is at least five years old and is not after Bhagwant Mann became the chief minister of Punjab.
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