Video of Karnataka Congress leader 'asking for votes in the name of god' is edited

What is the claim? 

Fourteen constituencies in the South Indian state of Karnataka will be voting on Friday, April 26, 2024. Ahead of the polling, a video of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Spokesperson Sudhir Kumar was circulating on social media with a claim that he asked people to vote in the name of god. 

An X (formerly Twitter) user shared the video (archived here) with the caption, “He is a congressi from Karkala, Udupi district in Karnataka. He is openly saying that this election is between Allah and Ram and Jesus and others will help them win the election. At least now people should understand the agenda of Congress and where their priorities lie (sic).”

The text on the video reads, “The Congressmen of Karkala have finally accepted that this is an Allah vs Rama election (translated from Kannada).” Archive versions of similar posts can be found here and here. 

Screenshots of the claims made on social media. (Source: X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts) 

However, the claim is misleading. The original video shows Sudhir Kumar quoting BJP member Sunil Kumar. 

Here are the facts

Through a reverse image search, we found a longer version of Sudhir Kumar's speech (archived here) on the YouTube channel of Times of Karkala Digital posted on May 3, 2023. 

At around 3:51-minute mark, he said, "There is an honest politician like Ramanath Rai. As Sunil Kumar of Karkala went to his constituency 20 days ago for an election campaign, he said this is an election of Allah vs. Rama, as he said we are devotees of Rama. Mr. Sunil Kumar, we Congressmen of Karkala, who built the freedom movement by saying  'Ishwara Allah Tero Naam Sab Ko Sanmati De Bhagavan' (There is one god, may god bless all), tell you this is not an election of Allah vs. Ram." He added, "You must understand this is an election where gods have blessed Congress." (Translated from Kannada) 

The highlighted portion has been selectively used to create the now-viral video. 

BJP leader Sunil Kumar first made this statement during a BJP Parivarthana rally in Bantwal on January 22, 2018, as reported by local news media outlet Udayavani on January 23, 2018. Referring to this old statement, Congress leader Sudhir Kumar said that the BJP leader has raised this issue again.

The verdict

An old video of Congress member Sudhir Kumar quoting BJP leader Sunil Kumar has been edited and shared with a misleading narrative. Therefore, we mark this claim as false.