Did Arvind Kejriwal Say BR Ambedkar Was Drunk While Writing Constitution? No!

The original speech is from 2012 when Kejriwal criticised the constitutions of other political parties.

Fact-Check: This video is clipped and has been shared with an incomplete context. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A video showing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal speaking on the microphone is being shared on social media platforms.

He said, "We were sitting and whoever wrote the Constitution was drunk."

The caption with the video noted, "Bhim Rao Ambedkar was drunk while writing the Constitution: Arvind Kejriwal" (sic)

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: The viral video has been edited.

• In the original 2012 video, Kejriwal was condemning the Congress's constitution, pointing to a clause that mandated abstaining from alcohol as a prerequisite for party membership.

What we found: Under one of the viral posts, we noticed a comment by an X (formerly Twitter) user @SidKeVichaar from 23 December.

• It noted that the video was "misleading" and shared the link to the original video in the consecutive comment.

• The link led us to AAP's YouTube page. The original video was uploaded on 3 December 2012.

• In his address, Kejriwal discussed the AAP constitution and drew comparisons with the constitutions of other parties, such as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress. This is when AAP was recently established in the October of 2012.

• Around 4:40 minutes, Kejriwal takes a dig at the Congress and states that the party's constitution notes that no member shall consume alcohol.

• Around 4:46 minutes, the former Delhi chief minister says, "So, we were sitting and discussing and someone said maybe the person writing Congress' constitution was drunk."

The section where he discusses the constitutions of the other two parties has been removed from the viral video to falsely suggest that he is criticising Ambedkar.

• Additionally, in February 2023, the Congress dropped the clause which made members swore off alcohol and made wearing khadi optional, reported the New Indian Express.

Conclusion: A clipped video of Kejriwal has gone viral that he called Ambedkar drunk while he was writing the country's constitution.

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