A cropped video of West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is circulating with a misleading claim that it shows him asking people to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and not the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Lok Sabha elections.
BOOM found that the video has been cropped and in the longer version of the video Chowdhury can be seen urging people to vote for the Congress candidate of Jangipur constituency of Bengal, Mortaza Hossain Bakul.
In the 8-second-long video, Chowdhury can be heard saying, "It is better to vote for the BJP than the Trinamool... you all can vote for the BJP. It is much better to vote for the BJP than the Trinamool."
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya posted the video with a caption, "Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury knows exactly how bad the situation in West Bengal, under Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, is. He wishes well for his home state. Listen to him, Bengal."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Right-wing handle Kreately.in also uploaded the video with the caption, "Thank you Adhir Babu".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Several mainstream news outlets including Times Now, Moneycontrol and Deccan Chronicle misleadingly claimed that Chowdhury asked people to vote for BJP based on the cropped video shared on X.
Fact Check
BOOM first observed that the banner positioned behind Chowdhury displays the name of Mortaza Hossain, the Congress candidate for Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.
Taking cue, we ran a keyword search in Bengali and came across a Facebook post from the official page of Indian National Congress - West Bengal. Chowdhury's speech was streamed live on April 30, 2024 from the page.
Click here to view the post.
Starting from the 25:08 minutes mark of his speech from Lalgola in Murshidabad, Chowdhury says, "Modi has turned pale with each passing day. Modi does not have that charisma like before. First time Modi had said that they will secure more than 400 seats. He is not 400 paar. Modi does not have that market anymore. According to survey at this moment 100 seats have gone away from the hands of Modi. More seats will reduce in the coming days. So, do not make that mistake. It is important to make the Congress and Left Front win. If the Congress and Left Front don't win, then India's secularism will be hurt."
The Congress leader then adds, "The meaning of voting for Trinamool... It is better that you vote for BJP. ... you all can vote for the BJP. It is much better to vote for the BJP than the Trinamool. So neither vote for the Trinamool, nor for the BJP... always, all the way, all round the year... the hope of happiness and sorry, Bakul (Mortaza Hossain) shall be with you all. So please support Bakul."
The Indian National Congress - West Bengal page further posted a video from a different angle, where Chowdhury can be heard asking for votes for Mortaza. An excerpt from the caption attributed to Soumya Aich, Chairman of WB Congress social media cell, translates to, "If you listen to the entire speech, you will understand what Adhir Chowdhury said. We condemn this hateful conspiracy of the Trinamool and BJP, Congress cannot be defeated in this way."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.