Fact Check: Mohan Bhagwat's Old Video Praising Congress Shared As Recent With Misleading Claim

Did RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat praise the Congress party? Multiple social media users are sharing a video claiming that the Sangh boss was all praise for the grand-old-party, acknowledging their contribution to India’s freedom movement. A fact check showed that the shared video clip was part of the RSS chief's speech delivered in 2018.

New Delhi:Multiple social media users shared a video of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat with a claim that he recently praised Congress for their contribution to India’s freedom movement. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the video clip shared in social media posts was a part of an old video dating back to 2018. A smaller part of video of his 2018 speech was shared as recent.

Claim

A Facebook user shared on May 22 shared a video of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in which he can be heard praising Congress for their contribution to India’s freedom movement.

The caption of the post read, “Mohan Bhagwat Praises Congress party”

Here is the link and archive link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same:

Screengrab from a social media post, saying Mohan Bhagwat praises Congress party. (ETV Bharat)

Investigation

Starting the investigation, the Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found several keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found several posts carrying the same video with similar claims.

Two such posts can be viewed here and here, and their archived versions can be seen here andhere, respectively.

Screengrabs from the social media posts making claims. (ETV Bharat)

On further scanning the search results the Desk came across a video on Facebook uploaded by the official page of The Indian Express on September 18, 2018.

The caption of the post read: “RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that Congress' ideology played an instrumental role in bringing the people of this country on the path to freedom.”

Here is the link to the post and below is a screenshot of the same:

Screengrab showing Mohan Bhagwat's speech in 2018. (ETV Bharat)

The Desk noticed that this was the same video as the one shared on social media recently.

Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google and came across a YouTube video uploaded by the official channel of NDTV on September 18, 2018.

The description of the video read: “If an outreach was the aim, reach out it did. Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, opened a three-day conclave in Delhi today with a rare conciliatory tone for one of its harshest critics. "In the form of the Congress, a huge freedom movement fledged in the nation. It too gave birth to a number of all-sacrificing great personalities who continue to inspire us today. That movement managed to inspire ordinary people to join the freedom struggle. It had a huge hand in us achieving Independence," he said.”

Here isthe linkto the video and below is a screenshot of the same:

Screengrab of a news article on Mohan Bhagwat's speech. (ETV Bharat)

Below is a combination image, comparing the visuals of the two videos, which shows that they are same.

Screengrabs from the viral video and an original youtube video from 2018. (ETV Bharat)

“In the form of the Congress, a huge freedom movement fledged in the nation. It too gave birth to a number of all-sacrificing great personalities who continue to inspire us today. That movement managed to inspire ordinary people to join the freedom struggle. It had a huge hand in us achieving Independence,” said the RSS chief.

Subsequently, the Desk found that an old video dating back to 2018 was shared as recent on social media with misleading claims.

CLAIM RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat recently praised Congress for their contribution to India’s freedom movement. FACT The video dates back to 2018. CONCLUSION Several social media users shared a video of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat praising Congress for their contribution to India’s freedom movement. In its investigation, the Desk found an old video dating back to 2018 was shared as recent on social media with misleading claim.

Note: This copy has been published by PTI as part of Shakti Collective and has been republished by ETV Bharat.