Old video shared as Congress celebrating 2024 Indian general election results in Delhi

What’s the claim?

A 34-second video depicting people showering flowers on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and distributing sweets has been widely circulated on social media platforms ahead of the vote count for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

At the 0:16 second mark of the viral clip, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi can be seen feeding her brother, Rahul Gandhi, a laddoo, a popular Indian sweet, amid celebratory percussion beats in the background.

An X (formerly Twitter) user shared this video with the caption, “Laddoos have been distributed today in the presence of Rahul Gandhi in the Congress office... blind devotees, do not cry, because your bad days are going to start from tomorrow. Devotees, you have to carry the bag with papa (your father) tomorrow (Translated from Hindi)."

The last sentence appears to be a jab at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting that he and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would lose power after the results are declared, and his followers would have to pack their bags along with him. Archived versions of similar posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of the viral video circulating online. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video is old and shows a celebration held at the Congress headquarters in Delhi after a defamation case against Gandhi was suspended by the Supreme Court of India.

How did we find the facts?

Through a reverse image search, we found the same video posted on the Indian National Congress (INC) official X account (archived here) on August 4, 2023. It was titled: “'Truth has triumphed over falsehood' Jai Congress, Vijay Congress. (Translated from Hindi).” 

Ruchira Chaturvedi, the national convenor of Congress’ social media and digital communications, also shared the same video on August 4, 2023 (archived here), stating that it depicts scenes of celebration at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi.

The news outlet Hindustan Times shared the identical video on its Facebook account (archived here) with the caption: "Congress leader #RahulGandhi arrives at the #AICC Headquarters amid celebrations after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the 'Modi' surname remark."

The defamation case against Gandhi 

A defamation case was filed against Gandhi in 2019 in Karnataka over a remark he allegedly made: "Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, how is it that all thieves have the same surname, Modi?" Prunesh Modi, a BJP MLA, filed the case, claiming that Gandhi had insulted the Modi community.

In March 2023, a trial court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted Gandhi for his remark and sentenced him to two years in prison. While he secured bail, his Parliamentary seat was revoked due to the conviction. Despite his petition for a stay on the conviction being rejected in the Surat Sessions Court and subsequently in the Gujarat High Court, as per reports.

Following this, Gandhi appealed to the Supreme Court for a stay on the conviction in the defamation case. On August 4, 2023, the apex court ordered the suspension of the conviction in the defamation case, allowing him to contest in the 2024 Indian general elections and reinstating him as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Indian Parliament.

In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Congress members held celebrations in several cities, including Delhi, Wayanad (Gandhi’s constituency), and Bengaluru.

The verdict

A video from 2023 depicting people welcoming Rahul Gandhi after the Supreme Court suspended his conviction in a defamation case has been circulated with the inaccurate assertion that it portrays the Congress celebrating the results of the Lok Sabha elections.