No, this isn't Congress' manifesto for 2024 J&K Assembly election

What is the claim?

Multiple social media users have claimed that the Indian National Congress party (INC) has released its manifesto for the upcoming 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections; further, they claimed that according to the assurances made in the manifesto, Congress is "ready to gift Kashmir to Pakistan." Users are also circulating a video with the claim in which a presenter discusses the purported manifesto. 

The video starts with a clip of Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, holding documents with the presenter discussing the "key points of the manifesto" in the background. Next, the presenter discusses the purported manifesto that proposes to rescind laws and policies like the revocation of Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the anti-conversion law, the National Education Policy (NEP), National Security Act (NSA) and Unlawful Activities Act (UAPA), as well as the death penalty. Additionally, the viral video also features claims about withdrawing India from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and eliminating its nuclear weapons.

The video is being widely shared across various social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube. One X user shared this video and wrote, “Are you ready to gift Kashmir to Pakistan? Although a "no", Congress wants to! #JammuKashmirElections #CongressParty manifesto is out in the public domain It has assured to restore #Article370, and scrap #CAA, #NSA, #UAPA, anti- conversion law amongst others.”

Another user on Facebook captioned the video as, “Congress manifesto for Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections(Translated from Hindi)." The archived versions of these and other posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Screenshots of the similar claims. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that the manifesto being discussed in the viral video is old and was released by Community Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) for the parliamentary elections in India held earlier this year.

Has Congress released its manifesto?

A relevant keyword search yielded no credible news reports indicating that the Congress has released its manifesto for the 2024 Jammu Kashmir Assembly elections. According to a report from August 24, 2024, the party has finalized the draft manifesto, and it would be made public only after the approval of other leaders. At the time of writing this story, the manifesto had not been released. 

We then checked all the party's social media platforms but found no evidence of such a manifesto being made public at the time of writing. However, we found a post (archived here) from September 4, 2024, on the X account of INC Sandesh, which is an official handle for the announcements by the Congress party. The post states, “Hon'ble Congress President has approved the proposal for the constitution of a Manifesto Coordination Committee with the following leaders for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand with immediate effect.”

What about the viral video?

After a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video, we were able to identify the presenter as Manvendra Chauhan, an India-based digital content creator. On his Instagram account, '_thehelpingmind', we found a video (archived here) posted on May 11 in which he briefly discussed the manifesto of the (CPI(M)) for the national elections. Similar to the viral video, the video mentioned various policy proposals such as the elimination of nuclear weapons, the abolition of the anti-conversion laws, the removal of the death penalty, the rescission of the revocation of Article 370, the scrapping of the CAA and the withdrawal of India from the QUAD. The presenter can be seen the same outfit as  in the viral video. We could not find the longer version of this video on YouTube.

Screenshot of a similar original video uploaded by the presenter on May 11. (Source: Instagram: _thehelpingmind/Modified by Logically Facts)

The viral video incorporates a brief clip of Gandhi at the beginning as well as the photo placed in the bottom right. Upon investigation, we found that the clip featured in the viral video was taken from the 'Nyay Patra' - Congress Manifesto Launch (archived here) event held on April 5. Identical visuals of  Gandhi holding the manifesto can be seen in the original video posted by the Congress leader on his YouTube channel at the 51:07-mark.

Screenshot of the viral video and the video of Rahul Gandhi. (Source: X/Rahul Gandhi (YouTube)/Modified by Logically Facts) 

Congress manifesto 2024 - 'Nyay Patra'

We checked the Congress manifesto 'Nyay Patra' for Lok Sabha Election 2024 and did not find any mention of the restoration of Article 370; however, it states, "We will immediately restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir." The manifesto did not directly indicate the scrapping of the NEP, but instead, states, "We will revisit and amend the NEP in consultation with the state governments."

The manifesto does not mention anything about the scrapping of CAA, anti-conversion laws, UAPA, or the death penalty. However, it states that "the National Security Council (NSC) and the office of National Security Adviser (NSA) will be brought under the oversight of a select committee of Parliament," but does not promise to scrap NSA. 

Additionally, we did not find any commitment made by the party in their manifesto for the 2024 national elections related to India's exit from strategic alliances like QUAD and I2U2 or eliminate the country's nuclear arsenal.

CPI(M) manifesto for 2024 Lok Sabha election

We also examined the CPI (M) manifesto for the 2024 Indian parliamentary elections, available on their website. We found that the party had committed to the restoration of Articles 35A and 370, initiating a dialogue process with relevant stakeholders, promoting development in the region and withdrawing of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), except in border areas.

Screenshot of the CPI (M) manifesto for 2024 parliamentary elections. (Source: CPI(M).org/Modified by Logically Facts)

The manifesto also states that the party will work towards scrapping the CAA, repealing anti-conversion laws and removing the death penalty from the statutes in the country. It further mentions that the laws like UAPA, the NSA and the AFSPA will be repealed.

Screenshot of the CPI (M) manifesto for 2024 parliamentary elections. (Source: CPI(M).org/Modified by Logically Facts)

The party manifesto further states under the 'Security Matters’, the party will withdraw from defense and strategic alliances like the India-U.S. Defense Framework Agreement, QUAD and I2U2. Furthermore, the party commits to the elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons. 

Additionally, under 'For People's Welfare', the party has stated to work to stop the implementation of NEP and will not allow to commercialize, communalize and centralize education.

Screenshot of the CPI(M) manifesto for 2024 parliamentary elections. (Source: CPI(M).org/Modified by Logically Facts)

It is further evident that all the points that are being discussed in the viral video are actually from the CPI(M)'s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, not Congress'. We did not find any evidence that the Congress has made any such promises for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections.

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024

Jammu and Kashmir are all set for the Assembly elections for the first time since 2014. The Election Commission of India announced in August 2024 that the voting will occur in three phases and the counting of votes will be done on October 4. The results of the election will be declared on October 8, 2024.

There are 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, of which nine are reserved for Scheduled Caste  (SC) candidates, seven for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and the remaining 74 are unreserved. 

Parties in the fray in the election are the National Conference (NC), one of the oldest parties in the region, the Congress party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), the Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as several local parties and independent candidates.

The verdict

A viral video claiming to show the manifesto of the Congress for the upcoming Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir is false. In the video, the presenter is discussing the CPI(M) manifesto for the Indian parliamentary elections that took place earlier in 2024, not the Congress' manifesto for the assembly election.