A video of Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge is going viral on social media, which shows that the tika on Kharge’s forehead is removed by a security personnel.
Social media users are sharing this video with the claim that Kharge delivered a speech after applying tika on his forehead to address a public meeting in a Hindu-dominated area. Then before going to give a speech in a public meeting organized in a Muslim-majority area, he removed the tika on his forehead.
Source- Twitter
Source- Twitter
Source- Twitter
Source- Twitter
Source- Twitter
Fact Check:
To fact-check the viral video, the DFRAC team converted it into several key frames and reverse-searched it and found a video in this context. This video was uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Congress and the description of this video informs that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge addressed the press conference held in Hubballi-Dharwad. The viral video can be spotted in the timestamp of 1 minute 9 seconds.
Source- Twitter
Apart from Kharge, former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who is the Congress candidate from the Hubli-Dharwad Central seat, is also sitting in this press conference. According to the report of ‘The Hindu’, Kharge fiercely targeted the BJP in this press conference, as well as Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai.
Source- Twitter
Simultaneously, in a report of TV-9 Kannada, it has been told that Mallikarjun Kharge, who reached Hubballi, was welcomed with aarti and kumkum on his forehead. Later, Kharge reached the press conference. Where Kharge’s bodyguard cleaned the tika on his forehead before the start of the press conference.
Conclusion:
It is clear from the fact check of DFRAC that the claim of social media users of Mallikarjun Kharge applying tika in the public meeting organized in the Hindu area and removing the tika before going to the public meeting in the Muslim area is misleading.
