Clipped video shared to falsely claim opposition leader ‘insulted author of Indian constitution’

As an Indian minister was criticised for his “disrespectful” remarks on Bhimrao Ambedkar — one of the architects of India’s constitution — a clipped video has been shared with a false claim it shows an opposition figure insulting Ambedkar. The original video from 2012 shows the remarks by Arvind Kejriwal — leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — were taken out of context, and that he was actually referring to the charter of another opposition group, not the Indian constitution.

“No one has insulted constitution author Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar as much as AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal,” read a Hindi-language post shared on Facebook on December 24, 2024.

“He says Baba Saheb wrote the constitution under the influence of alcohol. Arvind Kejriwal should first apologise and then explain his entire statement as to why he made such a big allegation and insulted Bharat Ratna Baba Saheb,” the post went on to say.

Ambedkar, a champion of civil justice for the socially marginalised Dalit community, was one of the key architects of the Indian constitution. His followers referred to him as Baba Saheb.

The post also included a nine-second black-and-white video showing Kejriwal speaking in Hindi: “So we were sitting together and someone was saying that whoever wrote the constitution must have written it after consuming alcohol.”

The clip circulated after opposition politicians — including Kejriwal — said Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks about Ambedkar on December 18, 2024 was “disrespectful” (archived link).

Speaking during a debate on the constitution in parliament, Shah said: “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have secured a place in heaven.”

Comments from users suggest they believed the claim to be true.

One user wrote: “Kejriwal is a chameleon, see how he used to speak about Baba Saheb Ambedkar.”

“Kejriwal should be arrested for saying such derogatory things about Ambedkar”, wrote another.

But the original video shows the AAP chief was actually mocking the constitution of the Indian National Congress party.

Clipped video

A reverse image search on Google found a longer and coloured version of the video uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the AAP on December 3, 2012 (archived link).

Its description said it shows Kejriwal addressing a public rally on November 25, 2012 in Delhi, one day before the party was officially launched (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false posts (left) and the video uploaded on the AAP’s YouTube channel (right):

The AAP leader says at the 4:21 mark of the video: “The constitutions of other parties are lies, they don’t implement their own. During this time, I have read the charters of all the parties. The constitution of the Congress party says that no congressman will drink alcohol.”

It then shows him saying the remarks in the false video, before criticising the charters of other parties while explaining his party’s agenda.

AFP published a picture of Kejriwal in its archive on November 25, 2012 showing him at the rally wearing the same shirt (archived link).

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