Congress leaders did not hold up 'Chinese Constitution' at protest outside Indian Parliament

What’s the claim?

Numerous posts on X (formerly Twitter) featured videos from a protest involving members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. One 20-second clip shows leaders of the Indian National Congress (INC), such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and other opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi MP and Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra, among others, holding up a small red book and chanting slogans in support of the Indian Constitution and its principles.

The captions accompanying these posts alleged that the books shown during the protest were not copies of the Indian Constitution, but rather the Chinese Constitution. Archive links to these posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of X post claiming that copies of the Chinese Constitution were used at the protest. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, upon closer inspection, it is clear that the book held by the protestors is a pocket-sized edition of the Indian Constitution, not the Chinese Constitution.

What did we find?

Upon examining the video watermarked by ANI, we confirmed it was originally uploaded by the news agency on X (archived here) on June 24, 2024. The caption stated, "INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, protesting on the Parliament premises."

Further visuals of the protest were found on X. Kharge shared a collage of these visuals on X on June 24, 2024, accompanied by a statement urging action from the ruling party on various issues (archived here). At the 0:35 second mark in the video, the title of the book is clearly visible as ‘The Constitution Of India.'

Screenshot of visuals from Kharge’s tweet where the title ‘The Constitution of India’ is visible. (Source: kharge/X/Modified by Logically Facts)

Similarly, videos of the protest uploaded by Rahul Gandhi on X (archived here) on June 24, 2024, clearly show the title of the book – ‘The Constitution Of India’ – with the words "Eastern EBC" visible in certain frames.

At the 0:50 mark of this clip, Sonia Gandhi holds it up to the camera with the title clearly visible, and at the 0:57 mark, Rahul, seated in a car, shows it to the press.

Screenshots from a video uploaded by Rahul Gandhi on X where the title ‘The Constitution Of India’ and the publisher ‘EBC’ are visible. (Source: Rahul Gandhi/X/Modified by Logically Facts)

A Google search revealed that this specific red edition of The Constitution of India is published by Eastern Book Company (EBC), a major producer of legal books in India. It is a coat pocket edition authored by Gopal Sankaranarayanan. Rahul has previously been seen with this copy at rallies.

For instance, an X post (archived here) from April 2024 by the Telangana Youth Congress shows Rahul holding the same copy of the Constitution at a rally in Bilaspur, Chattisgarh.

Other political figures have also been photographed with this copy, including former Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, who received a copy from Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Chhaganbhai Patel, as seen in a photo posted by the Rashtrapati Bhavan X account on July 15, 2021 (archived here).

This copy of the Constitution held by Rahul has previously been misidentified by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as the Chinese Constitution, a claim debunked by Logically Facts at that time as well.

The verdict

The claim that INDIA bloc members were using copies of the Chinese Constitution during a protest on the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha is false. The book in question is a pocket-sized version of the Indian Constitution.