Hyderabad: A video is circulating on social media showing a man slapping Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal during a roadshow. Those sharing the video claim the incident happened during the party’s campaign during the ongoing 2024 elections after Kejriwal was released from jail on bail in the Delhi liquor policy scam case.
An X user shared the video on 12 May 2024, linking it to the ongoing elections. (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that this video is from 4 May 2019, and is not related to the 2024 general elections.
We conducted a reverse image search of keyframes of the video and found it was uploaded on the YouTube channel of the Hindustan Times on 4 May 2019, titled ‘Watch: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal slapped during roadshow in Moti Nagar.’
According to the caption, the incident occurred during Kejriwal’s roadshow in the Moti Nagar area of Delhi during the campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
A keyword search led us to a report from NDTV on 5 May 2019, titled ‘Arvind Kejriwal Slapped During Roadshow In Delhi, AAP Blames BJP.’
The report stated that ‘Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Saturday slapped by a man during a roadshow in the Moti Nagar area. Mr Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party chief, was standing on an open jeep, canvassing in the New Delhi constituency, when the man jumped up and attacked him. He was identified as 33-year-old Suresh, a spare parts dealer. The AAP, meanwhile, has blamed the BJP for the attack.’
Additionally, Deccan Chronicle published a statement on 10 May 2019, from the attacker Suresh expressing remorse for his actions and stating that he did not understand why he had attacked the chief minister.
We also found similar reports from The Indian Express, Business Standard, Firstpost and The Times of India.
The video in question is five years old and has nothing to do with Kejriwal’s election campaign in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The claim is misleading.
This story was originally published by NewsMeter as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline, excerpt and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.