Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor won the Bankipur Assembly by-election in Bihar, defeating BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar by a margin of 18,953 votes. The seat fell vacant after BJP’s National President Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Amid this, a video of BJP MP Manoj Tiwari becoming emotional has gone viral on social media. The video is being shared with the claim that Tiwari broke down after the BJP’s defeat in the Bankipur by-election. While sharing the video on Facebook, a user wrote, “After the BJP candidate lost in # Bankipur, Manoj Tiwari was seen crying while explaining his words. In politics, victory and defeat are part of the game.”
Fact Check:
The DFRAC investigation found the claim to be misleading. The viral video is not related to the Bankipur by-election or the BJP’s defeat. It is actually from 2020, during the Delhi Assembly elections. Senior journalist Abhishek Upadhyay, who conducted the interview, also spoke to DFRAC and confirmed that the viral claim is false.
To verify the video, we first extracted keyframes and performed a reverse image search using Google Lens. This led us to the full interview uploaded on the TV9 Bharatvarsh YouTube channel on 14 January 2020. The video was uploaded with the caption: “Manoj Tiwari challenges Arvind Kejriwal, why did he become emotional on camera? Exclusive Interview.”
According to the interview, Manoj Tiwari was serving as the BJP’s Delhi unit president at the time, and the interview was conducted by senior journalist Abhishek Upadhyay during the Delhi Assembly election campaign. During the conversation, Tiwari became emotional while recalling his personal struggles and accused opposition leaders of mocking poor people and artists.
To further verify the claim, the DFRAC team contacted senior journalist Abhishek Upadhyay. He categorically refuted the viral claim and confirmed that the interview was recorded during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections and is now being shared with a misleading context.
Conclusion:
DFRAC’s fact check establishes that the viral claim is misleading. The video of Manoj Tiwari becoming emotional during his interview with journalist Abhishek Upadhyay is not related to the Bankipur Assembly by-election. It is an old video recorded during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, and therefore the claim being circulated on social media is false.
| Claim Review | Manoj Tiwari became emotional after the BJP’s defeat in the Bankipur by-election. |
| Claimed By | Facebook User |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
Sources:
1.YouTube video of TV9 Bharatvarsh, Uploaded on January 14, 2020
2. Journalist Abhishek Upadhyay Statement to DFRAC
