A video of West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is going viral on social media where he can be heard saying in Bengali, "Why vote for Trinamool Congress (TMC)? Better vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)."
Who shared this?: Along with several social media users, BJP IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya and TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale also shared this claim.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here, here and here.)
What's the truth?: This is a clipped video. Chowdhury was delivering this speech in support of Congress candidate Murtaza Hossain Bakul in Lalgola, West Bengal.
In the longer version of the same video, Chowdhury continues to say, "Neither vote for TMC, nor for BJP - all year round."
How did we find out the truth?: We noticed Murtaza Hossain Bakul written on the banner in the background.
Taking a cue, we performed a relevant keyword search Google and we came across a video streamed live by INC West Bengal page on Facebook.
This was shared on 30 April and the title stated that Chowdhury delivered a speech in support of Congress candidate Murtaza Hossain Bakul in Lalgola, West Bengal.
This video is from a different angle than the viral one but it carried the complete version of Chowdhury's speech where he takes a dig at TMC and BJP, both while supporting Bakul.
The viral video starts at 25:38 timestamp where he states, "What is 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."
Then he continues, "So neither vote for the Trinamool, nor for the BJP, always, all round the year. So please support Bakul."
Congress' clarification: The same official Facebook page of INC - West Bengal further shared the same speech in a different angle and clarified that the viral video has been clipped and edited.
The caption also added that the party condemns the hateful conspiracy of the TMC and BJP and pointed out that Chowadhary has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times in the past and still stands against him.
Conclusion: An edited video of West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asking people to vote for BJP is being shared with misleading context.
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