A nine-second-long edited video is being circulated on social media with the claim that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is encouraging the sale of liquor and questioning the working of the excise department.
However, the video is edited and the original was shared by Shivraj Singh Chouhan on 12 January when he was taking a dig at the then Kamal Nath-led government.
CLAIM
In the viral video, the chief minister can be heard saying, “What is your excise department doing? Why is it there? Spread the alcohol in Madhya Pradesh to such an extent that people drink and stay drunk.”
Social media users have shared the video claiming that Madhya Pradesh is the first state where liquor contractors do not want to open shops but the chief minister wants the shops to open.
The video posted by one ‘Prince Kumar Sahu’ had 29,000 views at the time of publishing this article.
Several Twitter users have also shared the video with a similar narrative.
WHAT WE FOUND
We found that the ‘Office of Shivraj’ Twitter account had tweeted a longer version of the video in which Shivraj Singh Chouhan can be heard taking a dig at the then Kamal Nath government.
The handle also shared the original video shared by Chouhan on 12 January when the Kamal Nath-led government was governing the state.
In the over-two-minute-long video, he said, “Farmers and the poor people are crying and this government is busy in opening liquor shops. It’s a very unfortunate situation and we have just begun the fight, we will fight... Does the government want the youth of Madhya Pradesh to sink in a sea of alcohol?”
He then went on to say, “What is the excise department doing? What are they for? Why does not it stop the selling of illegal liquor? Will you send the alcohol to everybody’s home. It will make the youth hollow and destroy the state. But the farmers should not ask for loan waivers, youth should not ask for unemployment allowance, the poor should not talk about Sambal Yojana, nobody should ask for money from the chief minister, and that’s why spread the alcohol in the state to such an extent that people drink and stay drunk.”
He further said if the chief minister had high moral values, then he should run de-addiction campaigns.
Clearly an edited version of Chouhan’s video has been circulated to claim that he is encouraging alcohol shops to open.
CASE REGISTERED IN THE MATTER
Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh police has initiated a probe into the matter and a case has been registered against the circulation of the edited video, news agency PTI reported quoting officials.
“In their complaint to the crime branch, the BJP leaders said that Mr Chouhan had given a statement against the liquor policy of the then Kamal Nath government on January 12 this year,” the report added.
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