As India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to regain control of Jharkhand state in the November elections, a video circulated in social media posts falsely claiming that BJP politician Shivraj Singh Chouhan was one of scolded his fellow party members. The footage shows him criticizing the ruling opposition alliance Jharkhand.
“Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s major attack on Chief Minister Mohan Yadav,” said a Hindi-language Facebook post sharing the video on October 4, 2024.
In the video, Chouhan can be seen calling out “power brokers” who have “ruined the future of children.” The Hindi text on the video claims that he was referring to Mohan Yadav.
Chouhan was replaced by Yadav as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh – one of the right-wing BJP’s core states – after the November 2023 elections by party bosses.
He was later appointed agriculture minister, charged with suppressing widespread farmers’ protests, and as the BJP’s election chief for the eastern state of Jharkhand.archived here and here).
The clip was shared on X and Facebook with similar claims.
But Chouhan’s statement was aimed at opposition leaders in Jharkhand – not Yadav.
Cut video
A reverse image search on Google found a longer version of the video shared on Chouhan’s official X account on October 2 (archived link).
The caption of the X-post read: “The JMM-Congress coalition government has ruined the future of the children of Jharkhand. They had to wander from door to door. Jharkhand needs to be saved, the soil, the food, the daughters of this place need to be saved – Shivraj Singh Chouhan.”
Chouhan was speaking after a BJP Parivartan (Change) meeting in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh that day (archived link).
The BJP is seeking to regain control of the state from a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance government in the November elections (archived here and here).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in fake posts (right) and the video posted on Chouhan’s official X account (left):
The clip shared in fake posts corresponds to the first 48 seconds of the original video.
Towards the end of the video, Chouhan says, “And that is why it is important that we protect the land, livelihoods and daughters of Jharkhand.”
At no point in the video does he mention Yadav.
Indian news agency Indo-Asian News Service also shared footage of Chouhan’s comments about X (archived link).
