Clip of Kejriwal at Koli Event Falsely Shared as One of Him Praising Viral Kohli

Kejriwal did not mention Virat Kohli by name in his speech about the Koli community.

A video of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal is being shared to falsely claim that he praised cricketer Virat Kohli while talking about the Koli community in Gujarat.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A video of Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal speaking on a stage is being shared on social media to claim that he praised cricketer Virat Kohli.

What does he say?: In the video, Kejriwal calls the children of the Koli community "talented, hardworking, and patriotic," going on to refer to a cricketer "who is making India known across the world."

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the claim is false as Kejriwal doesn't mention Kohli at all.

• In the full version of the video, it becomes evident that he was talking about former England cricketer Vikram Solanki while referring to statement by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

How do we know this?: We looked for a video of a longer version of this statement, and came across a video of Kejriwal in the same clothing on AAP's YouTube channel.

• Streamed live on 22 February, the video titled "Grand mass marriage ceremony organised by Koli community in Gujarat | Arvind Kejriwal | CM Bhagwant Mann," showed Kejriwal speaking about the Koli community.

• He spoke about the Koli community playing an important role in the development of Gujarat, remarking on their contribution in social work across the country.

• At the 3:57-timestamp, we came across the viral part of this video where Kejriwal praised the Koli community.

• Praising the children of the community, he said that with the correct resources, skills, education, and opportunities, they would achieve great success.

"Like he said, the cricket player from the Koli community, he is making India known across the globe," Kejriwal said, without naming any individual.

• We then looked for news reports about his statement, which led us to a news report by Bhaskar, which mentioned the controversy around his statement.

• It clarified that Kejriwal made a reference to a previous statement made by Mann, when he spoke about former England cricketer Vikram Solanki.

• We looked for a video of Mann talking about Solanki, and came across a video of Mann's part of the speech uploaded by a channel named Nirbhay News Gopi Ghanghar.

At 2:20-minute mark, he says, "I am a big sports lover. Vikram Solanki, a very good player in the English cricket team, when he used to play in the team I just knew that he was from Gujarat. Now that I'm here, I know that he is also from the Koli community.

Conclusion: A video of Arvind Kejriwal is being shared to falsely claim that Kejriwal said Virat Kohli was from Gujarat's Koli community.

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