After India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a shocking electoral defeat, a video of crying politician Navneet Rana appeared in social media posts, falsely claiming it showed her reaction to losing her seat. However, the video was filmed years before the election and shows Rana’s husband comforting her after she was hospitalized.
“Arrogance turned to tears in Amravati,” read a Facebook post in which the video was shared on June 5, referring to Rana’s seat in Maharashtra which she lost in the just-concluded elections.
The BJP was forced into a coalition government after a setback in the polls left the party without an outright majority for the first time in a decade.archived link).
The main opposition party, Congress, won 99 seats in a remarkable turnaround, nearly doubling its 2019 tally.
“Navneet Rana, who spoke about sending Indian Muslims to Pakistan, was sent packing by the public,” the Facebook post added. “See her situation after the defeat.”
The message appeared to refer to comments Rana made at an election rally in May that those who did not want to say a Hindu slogan should “go to Pakistan” (archived link).
Days later, a case was filed against her over a controversial comment she made at another meeting (archived link).
The video was shared in similar posts on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, here and here.
Hospital video
A reverse image search on Google found the video posted on X by Indian media outlet News18 on May 5, 2022 (archived link).
“Arrested Maharashtra MP Navneet Rana broke down when she met her husband in hospital,” the text on the video reads.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in Fake Posts (left) and the News 18 video (right):
In April 2022, Mumbai Police arrested Rana and her husband, also a politician, following their call to chant a Hindu hymn outside a politician’s residence (archived link).
Rana was later taken to hospital after falling ill in prison.
The video was widely shared by Indian news media at the time here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
