Old Video of Ravi Kishan Revived After His Visit to a Dalit Family's Home

The video is being shared with a claim that he complained about the foul smell of sweat of Dalits.

A short video of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ravi Kishan, in which he is seen sitting in a car with several other people and complaining about the smell of sweat, is going viral on social media.

Social media users are sharing the video to claim that Kishan raised an issue with the smell of sweat of Dalits. The claim comes shortly after the MP shared a photograph of him sharing a meal at a Dalit person’s house ahead of upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

However, we found that the video could be traced back to at least 2020, when it was shared with a similar claim. While Kishan does remark on the smell of sweat in the video, he makes no reference to Dalit community whatsoever. In 2020, Kishan shared a video clarifying that he was speaking to and about his staff members in the car and not about others, as claimed.

CLAIM

The video is being widely shared on social media, with the claim that BJP MP Ravi Kishan was complaining about the smell of the sweat of Dalits, after having shared a meal at one such house.

At the time of writing this article, this post by Facebook user Rohit Soni had been viewed over 3,100 times.

Archived versions of posts with similar claims on social media can be viewed here, here, here and here.

We found that the claim had been shared on YouTube as well, and can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Ravi Kishan and a few other members of the BJP recently had food at a Dalit person’s house. Kishan also shared a photograph of the event on his verified Twitter account, on 14 January.

Team WebQoof carefully observed the video, and slowed it down to hear the audio clearly. We were then able to determine that Kishan does not speak about Dalits.

The following is a loose translation of the conversation in the video:

Kishan: You’ve stuffed so many people inside this.

Staffer: We came running behind you and managed to sit here.

Another staffer: The rest came later, two-three of us were here earlier.

Kishan: Your sweat smells so much, what can I tell you.

Staffer: What do I tell you Ravi bhaiyya, we run behind Kanhaiyya bhaiyya all day and night.

Kishan: So you will make me smell the sweat. Stop the video.

Using relevant keywords in Hindi, we looked for more videos on YouTube. The search led us to a video report uploaded to LiveHindustan’s verified YouTube channel on 17 May 2020.

The report shows the viral video first, followed by a clarification from Kishan.

“The Opposition is uncomfortable with our (BJP’s) work, so they find ways to put us down. So, let me tell the people that the video is three years old, while I was campaigning for the 2017 elections in Uttar Pradesh. My staff was in the car with me.”

Kishan claims that he doesn’t complain about the foul smells, but calls it “fragrance” instead.

Adding that those who know him personally, know that he jokes around with his own people. “I make them sit in my car and then complain about their sweat, it is not possible. Use your common sense, Opposition parties,” he says.

Hindustan Times also carried a report on the video.

Though we were unable to independently verify how old the video actually is or where it was shot, it is clear that it is not recent and is being falsely linked to his recent photograph.

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