Is Nitish Kumar leaving BJP-led NDA again? No, old video is being shared out of context

What is the claim?

A video from Hindi news channel News24, featuring anchor Manak Gupta's show 'Rashtra Ki Baat,' has gone viral on social media. The video claims that Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar has left the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) again.

The viral video includes a brief monologue by Gupta, setting the context, followed by Kumar's statement to the media. In the interaction, Kumar is heard saying in Hindi: "Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha leaders, along with the MLAs and party leaders, all convened today, and everyone's consensus was to exit the NDA. Therefore, when the decision to leave the NDA was unanimous, we accepted it. (translated from Hindi)."

The 49-second viral video also displays text in Hindi stating, “Rahul Gandhi will become the Prime Minister of India. Long live India alliance. Nitish Kumar has flipped again.”

This video has been widely shared on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube (archived here, here, and here), falsely claiming that Kumar reversed his stance after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Additional posts can be seen here and here.

Screenshots captured from the viral video. (Source: X/Instagram)

However, the viral video is actually from August 2022, when Kumar decided to exit the BJP's NDA in Bihar and align with the Mahagathbandhan alliance, which included the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left parties.

What we found 

Using relevant keywords, we located an extended version of the viral video (archived here) uploaded to News24's YouTube channel on August 9, 2022, titled ‘Why did Nitish Kumar leave the BJP's side?’

In this news report, Gupta discusses the cabinet realignment following Kumar’s alliance with the RJD and Congress in Bihar. The video then cuts to Kumar addressing the media. The now-viral segment runs from 0:54 to 1:40.

In response to the query about severing ties with the BJP, Kumar stated that the decision to exit the NDA was made during a meeting attended by the party's Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, MLAs, and other leaders.

NDTV India also shared the same video featuring Kumar on its X account, (archived here) on August 9, 2022.

According to The Hindu's report on August 10, 2022, titled ‘Nitish Kumar dumps BJP for RJD, set to form government afresh,’ Kumar, after five years, rekindled his partnership with the opposition alliance, including the RJD, with whom he had parted ways in 2017 citing corruption. The Hindu also noted that Kumar was elected the leader of the RJD-led alliance and subsequently staked claim to form a new government before Governor Phagu Chouhan with the backing of 164 MLAs from seven parties.

Many media outlets, including the Economic Times and India Today, published detailed reports on this in 2022.

However, in January 2024, after 17 months in the Mahagathbandhan alliance, Kumar returned to the NDA fold.

The verdict 

Our investigation reveals that a video from August 2022 has been used to falsely claim that Nitish Kumar exited the BJP-led NDA alliance in 2024. The video predates the 2024 political developments and does not reflect the current situation.