Portion of Kejriwal’s remarks on Congress party’s internal constitution shared online with false claim

New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI): A video clip of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was shared on social media where he allegedly said, "The one who wrote the Constitution must have also written it after drinking alcohol." Users shared the video, calling it an insult to the Constitution and its makers and claiming that his comment was on Dr BR Ambedkar.

However, the viral claim was found to be fake in the investigation done by PTI Fact Check. The investigation revealed that the video was a clipped portion of his speech at Rajghat in November 2012, which was delivered a day before the official launch of his party on November 26. In the original video, Kejriwal commented on the internal constitution of the Congress party, not on the Constitution of India.

On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), a user named Rahul Anand shared a video clip on December 22, 2024, and wrote, "The Constitution was written after drinking alcohol, meaning according to Kejriwal, Ambedkar Saheb wrote the Constitution after drinking alcohol." Apart from this, several social media handles associated with the BJP and Congress also shared the video clip with the same claim.

To verify the claim, the Desk did a reverse image search of the video's keyframes. During this, we found an extended part of the video on former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's X (former Twitter) account. In this video, Arvind Kejriwal, referring to the constitution of the Congress party, said, "... during this time I have read the constitutions of all the parties, the constitution of Congress says, no Congressman will drink alcohol. So, we were sitting, and someone was saying that the one who would have written the constitution must have also written it after drinking alcohol." Conducting a customised Google search, we found the original video of Kejriwal's speech on the official YouTube channel of the Aam Aadmi Party. This video was of his speech at Rajghat, delivered on November 25, 2012, and uploaded on YouTube on December 3, 2012.

At the 4:35-minute timestamp of this 17-minute-long video, Kejriwal is heard talking about uploading the constitution of 'The Aam Aadmi Party' on the party's website and says, "Tomorrow morning, the party's website will be announced. A new website is being made and that website will be launched tomorrow. We will put our party's constitution on that website. You people should also see how it is different from other parties. The constitution of other parties is false, they do not even believe in their constitution.” The PTI Fact Check’s investigation has made it clear that a clipped portion from Kejriwal’s address at Rajghat in November 2012 was taken out of context and shared on social media with a false claim. Read the full fact-check report here: https://bit.ly/3P8hvNL For the truth or verification of any claim viral on social media, contact the PTI Fact Check Desk’s WhatsApp number: +91-8130503759. PTI TEAM HIG HIG