Fact Check: Arvind Kejriwal Didn’t Snub Rahul Gandhi At Hemant Soren Oath Event. Video Is Clipped
A video circulating on social media shows Congress leader Rahul Gandhi standing on stage while former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal shakes hands with other political leaders present but not with Gandhi.
The Verdict: False
Livestream videos from Hemant Soren’s swearing-in confirm Arvind Kejriwal shook hands with Rahul Gandhi, disproving claims of a snub at the event.
What is the claim?
A video circulating on social media shows Congress leader Rahul Gandhi standing on stage while former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shakes hands with other political leaders present but not with Gandhi. The accompanying claim suggests that Kejriwal snubbed Gandhi, implying strained relations between the Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
An X user shared the video, writing, “Kejriwal did not shake hands with Rahul Gandhi 😂 Meaning clearly AAP is not in the mood to give importance to Congress in Delhi elections.” Archived versions of this and similar posts can be viewed here, here, here, here, here.
However, our investigation found that Kejriwal and Gandhi did shake hands during Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s oath-taking ceremony on November 28, 2024.
What are the facts?
A reverse image search of the viral video led us to an extended version of the event, live-streamed on the official YouTube channel of the Jharkhand government, ‘JharGov TV’ (archived here). The video, titled “Swearing-in Ceremony”, captured the complete oath-taking event for Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren. At the timestamp of 2:56:00, Kejriwal can be seen arriving and shaking hands first with Gandhi before greeting other political leaders on stage.
The viral clip corresponds to the timestamp of 2:56:07 to 2:56:28 in the full video. Kejriwal, accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP leader Raghav Chadha, can be seen waving to the crowd, a scene identical to the viral clip. The background audio in both the viral and full videos also matches.
Further confirmation comes from another live-streamed video on Live Hindustan’s YouTube channel titled, ‘LIVE: Hemant Soren Oath Ceremony: Jharkhand CM Oath | Jharkhand CM | India Alliance | Rahul Gandhi’ (archived here). The handshake between Kejriwal and Gandhi appears at the 49:28 timestamp.
A similar video on The Hindu’s YouTube channel, titled, ‘LIVE: Hemant Soren’s Oath-Taking Ceremony | The Hindu’ (archived here), also features the handshake at the 5:20 timestamp, corroborating that Kejriwal did not snub Gandhi during the event.
Soren took the oath as Jharkhand’s chief minister for the fourth time on November 28, 2024, following the I.N.D.I.A bloc’s victory in the state Assembly elections. The alliance, comprising the JMM, Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), and Rashtriya Janata Dal, secured 56 out of 81 seats.
The verdict
The full video of Hemant Soren’s swearing-in ceremony confirms that Arvind Kejriwal did shake hands with Rahul Gandhi. He greeted Gandhi first, followed by other leaders, disproving claims that Kejriwal snubbed him at the event.
This report first appeared on logicallyfacts.com, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.
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