Fact Check: Viral Video Of Siddaramaiah Is From 2022 Iftar Party, Not Related To Karnataka Elections

New Delhi Vishvas News – Vishvas News in its investigation found that the viral claim is false. The video is of an Iftar party that took place in April 2022 and is now being shared on social media with false claims.

What’s Going Viral?

Sharing the viral video on June 8, 2023, Facebook user ‘Ramesh Chand Sharma’ wrote, “Karnataka CM and Deputy CM are celebrating donning new clothes… You can’t recognise them in these clothes… God save Karnataka .. CM and deputy CM celebrated after winning the election here in Karnataka. Followers of Sanatana Dharma in Karnataka should get ready for Sharia law in future.”

The archived link to the post can be accessed here.

Investigation

On closely watching the video, we found that there is a banner in the video with ‘Daawat-e-Iftar’ written on it. Based on this find, we started searching on Google with related keywords. We found a similar video uploaded on April 16, 2023, on a YouTube channel called Thrilling News India. According to the information available, Siddaramaiah, along with Zameer Ahmed Khan, had thrown an iftar party at Nalapad Mandap. The clothes worn by Siddaramaiah on this occasion are exactly like those in the viral video and the banner behind him is also the same.

We found videos related to this Iftar party uploaded on the official YouTube channels of Daily Salar, News18 Urdu and Oneindia Kannada on April 16, 2023. The viral clip can be seen after 52 seconds into the Oneindia Kannada’s video. This video has also been shared with information about Siddaramaiah’s iftar party at Nalapad Mandap.

We also found a news report on the news website Vartabharathi about Siddaramaiah organising an iftar party. The report, which shared several pictures of the event, was published on April 15, 2022.

During the investigation, we also found a tweet related to this iftar party on the official Twitter account of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. On April 15, while sharing some pictures, he wrote in the caption, “It was a pleasure to attend the Iftar party organised on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. Happy Ramadan to all of you.” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, KPCC president DK Shivakumar, campaign committee chairman MB Patil, ex-minister Zameer Ahmed, working president Salim Ahmed and various religious leaders were among those who attended the iftar party.

We also found pictures and videos of this Iftar party shared on April 15, 2022, with the same information, on the official Facebook account of BZ Zameer Ahmed. He wrote in the caption, “Glimpses of the Iftar party, which was hosted by CLP leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka Shri Siddaramaiah ji and I organised this party.”

We contacted local journalist Yasir Khan from Karnataka for more details. He told us, “The viral video is old and is being shared with a false claim.”

At the end of the investigation, we scanned the account of the user who shared the video with the false claim. We found that the user is influenced by an ideology. He has 450 friends and is a resident of Rishikesh, according to his profile.

Conclusion: Vishvas News in its investigation found that the viral video of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar is being shared with misleading claims of celebrating the poll victory with members of Muslim community. A video of an Iftar party, which took place in April 2022, is being shared on social media with false claims.

Tags

• fake news
• Siddaramaiah