Fact Check: Rahul didn’t insult Kharge at inauguration of Congress’s new office, was offering help

A video from the inauguration of Congress's new HQ, Indira Bhavan, shows Mallikarjun Kharge, seated beside Sonia Gandhi, being allegedly asked by Rahul Gandhi to vacate his chair.

Hyderabad: The Congress inaugurated its new headquarters, Indira Bhavan at 9A, Kotla Road, in Delhi on 17 January, marking a historic transition after operating from its iconic 24, Akbar Road office, for 47 years.

Amid this backdrop, a video from the inauguration has been circulating on social media, showing the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi moving the chair of Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

Social media users are sharing the video with the claim that Kharge, while seated beside Sonia Gandhi, was insulted by Rahul Gandhi, who allegedly asked him to vacate the chair.

A Facebook user shared the video with the caption, “Kharge insulted”. (Translated from Tamil)

A similar post can be seen here. (Archive)

NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the video was clipped. The extended version shows Rahul Gandhi assisting Mallikarjun Kharge to reach the podium after he was invited to speak.

A reverse image search of the keyframes of the viral clip led us to a video live-streamed on the official YouTube channel of the Congress party on 15 January, titled ‘Inauguration of Indira Bhawan, the new AICC HQ’.

The video showed Rajya Sabha MP and national treasurer of the Congress party, Ajay Maken, inviting Rahul Gandhi to speak during the event at the 28-minute mark, with Rahul finishing his speech at the 46:06-minute mark.

Maken then returns to the podium and invites Mallikarjun Kharge to speak. At exactly 46:45 minutes, the viral clip appears, showing Rahul assisting Kharge with his chair to help the leader get up for his speech. The extended version clearly showed Rahul offering assistance to Kharge out of courtesy, not insulting him.

We also found a video of the event live-streamed on the official YouTube channel of Priyanka Gandhi on 15 January. This video, too, shows the same sequence after the 45:04-minute mark, where Rahul was seen assisting Kharge with his chair.

Therefore, we conclude that the viral video is clipped and the claim that Rahul Gandhi insulted Mallikarjun Kharge by unseating him from his chair is false.

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.