Old video clip of Mallikarjun Kharge wiping Tilak before press conference is falsely shared as he wiped it in Muslim area.
Claim
This is how CONgress leaders fool Hindus ! They forcibly wear Tilak when campaigning in Hindu dominated areas and coolly wipe it off when they are in Muslim areas. Golmaal Hai Bhai Sab Golmaal Hai ! ! !
Rating
Explanation
A video clip of a person wiping the tilak of Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge is viral now with the claim that Congress leaders forcibly wear Tilak when campaigning in Hindu-dominated areas and coolly wipe it off when they are in Muslim areas and fool the Hindus as seen in the video. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here and here.
They do it shameless, and foolishly too https://t.co/lhMpNhj42Q
— S Gurumurthy (@sgurumurthy) October 20, 2023
What is the truth?
When searching for the full video, we found the full version live video uploaded on ‘Indian National Congress’ Youtube channel on 26, April 2023 with the title ‘LIVE: Press briefing by Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge in Hubli, Karnataka’.
At the 1:05 minute timestamp of the video, we can see a person wiping the tilak on Mallikarjun Kharge’s forehead. This proves that the video is real.
When searching the X handle of Mallikarjun Kharge we found that he visited Chikkodi and Hubli-Dharwad West in Karnataka as a part of his political campaign on 26, April 2023. The press conference also held on the same date. Both the areas, Chikkodi and Hubli-Dharwad reportedly have Hindus as major population.
With further search, we found TV 9 Kannada article dated 26, April 2023 reporting this incident with the title in Kannada translated as “Mallikarjun Kharge; Why did the bodyguard wipe the saffron on Mallikarjuna Kharge’s forehead?”
This article reported that Mallikarjuna Kharge arrived in Hubballi to participate in the campaign program, and was greeted with an aarti and kumkum on his forehead. Later, Kharge arrived at the press conference. Before the press conference began, Kharge’s bodyguard wiped off the saffron he had smeared on his forehead. This proves that he did not wipe the tilak when he reach the Muslim area as claimed.
This is not the first time political leaders are seen wiping Tilak from their foreheads. Youturn covered these incidents in one of its articles in Tamil in April 2023.
Karnataka Former CM Basavaraj Bommai is seen wiping his tilak in a video uploaded in January 2023 on ‘Pratidhvani’ Youtube channel.
The Union Minister Amit Shah is seen wiping tilak from his forehead at 5:45 minutes timestamp of the video uploaded on News 18 MP Chhattisgarh Youtube channel and Former CM of Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh is seen wiping tilak from his forehead at 7:50 minutes timestamp of the same video.
Conclusion
It is found that the video of Mallikarjun Kharge’s bodyguard wiping his tilak before a press conference in Karnataka was falsely shared as it was done in a Muslim area by BJP supporters.
