Does This Video Show Man Slapping Gandhi Statue in Thiruvananthapuram? No!

We found that the video was actually from Kerala's Punalur.

Fact-Check | The video is not from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram as claimed.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a man dressed in blue shirt slapping the statue of Mahatma Gandhi is going viral on social media platforms as recent visuals from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram.

What have users said?: Those sharing the video have uploaded it with a caption in Malayalam that loosely translated to, "The Congress handed over the governance of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to the BJP, and the Sangh members have started showing their true nature. Now, Thiruvananthapuram residents, what all are we going to witness next?"."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

The above post had gained over 10 thousand views on the platform. More archives of similar such claims could be found here, here, and here.

What are the facts?: The video shows a man slapping a Gandhi statue in Kerala's Punalur and not Thiruvananthapuram. This makes the viral claim misleading.

How did we find that out?: On conducting a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video, we found the same visuals uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Manorama News.

• It was shared on 30 December 2025.

• The video's caption when translated to English said, "Drunk man slaps Gandhi statue in Punalur, abuses it | Kerala Police | Punalur."

News reports: A report published by Mathrubhumi said that a man belonging to Purambok in Chemmanthur, Harilal (41), was arrested for desecrating a statue of Gandhi.

• The statue was installed at the western entrance of the Punalur suspension bridge.

• The report further said that the man was seen climbing on top of the stone wall, where the statue was installed, and shouted obscenities while slapping the statue.

The report was published on 30 December 2025.

(Source: Mathrubhumi/Screenshot)

Conclusion: It is evident that the video is being incorrectly linked to Thiruvananthapuram.

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