Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
AAP supremo and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says BR Ambedkar was drunk while writing the Constitution of India.
Fact
Video is old and clipped. Kejriwal was mocking the writers of Congress’ constitution, not BR Ambedkar.
A 9-second video has gone viral on social media with the claim that it shows Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal addressing a campaign rally, saying that BR Ambedkar was drunk while writing the Constitution of India.
The video has gone viral weeks ahead of the crucial Delhi Assembly elections, slated for February 2025, and close on the heels of Kejriwal announcing an Ambedkar scholarship for free foreign education of the city’s Dalit students, where the AAP chief reportedly said the scholarship was a response to the BJP’s “insult” of Ambedkar.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact Check
Newschecker noticed that Kejriwal does not directly state Ambedkar’s name, saying, “…whoever wrote the constitution, wrote it while drunk.” We ran a keyword search for “Kejriwal Ambedkar constitution drunk”, which did not lead us to any credible news reports about such an incident or statement from Kejriwal.
We then found that AAP Rajasthan spokesperson Devender Yadav had replied to one of the users who posted the viral video, debunking it, while sharing a longer, unedited version of Kejriwal’s statement.
“I’ve studied the constitutions of all the [political] parties. One of the statutes of Congress’ constitution states that no Congress member should consume alcohol…The person who wrote the constitution of Congress must have written it after drinking alcohol,” said Kejriwal in the 22-second video.
A further search led us to the video of Kejriwal’s entire speech, uploaded on Youtube by AAP on December 3, 2012, stating that the former CM was addressing people at the Raj Ghat on November 25, 2012. The full excerpt can be seen from the 04:36 mark, which confirms that the viral video was misleadingly clipped to push a false narrative.
We also looked up the Constitution and Rules of the Indian National Congress on the party’s official website, where we found that in the attached membership enrolment/renewal form on page 72, the applicant has to declare that he will abstain from alcoholic drinks and intoxicant drugs.
Also Read: Did PM Modi Announce New ₹500 & ₹2000 Currency Notes? Old Video From 2016 Shared As Recent
Conclusion
An old video of Arvind Kejriwal mocking the writers of Congress’ constitution clipped to falsely claim that the AAP chief said BR Ambedkar was drunk while writing the Constitution of India.
Result: False
Sources
X post, Devender Yadav, December 23, 2024
Youtube video, AAP, December 3, 2012
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
