Edited video of political debutant falsely suggests she 'accepted defeat' in India's election

Indian actress Kangana Ranaut -- a prominent star of Hindi-language films -- is contesting the election as a BJP candidate in the district of Mandi in northern Himachal Pradesh state (archived link here and here).

A 20-second video shared here on Facebook on May 6, 2024 shows her giving a speech at a lectern on a stage filled with people.

The Hindi-language caption alongside it read, "The crowd came to see Kangana, not to vote for her. This deserves to be shared."

Ranaut, an ardent supporter of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appears to say in the clip, "This crowd that turns up to see Kangana won't vote for her.

"They came to see who Kangana is. Is she an angel brought in from Mumbai? So they came to see this thing. But I am not this thing."

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Screenshot of false post taken on May 5, 2024

India went to polls on April 19 with nearly a billion people voting to elect a new government in a six-week-long parliamentary election which the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP was expected to win, AFP reported. 

Comments from users suggest they were misled into believing Ranaut said the crowd would not vote for her.

"This means even she knows her worth," one user wrote sarcastically.

"She is showing off like a braggart," wrote another.

The video appeared with similar false claims on Facebook here and here; and on social media platform X.

Edited footage

A reverse image search of a keyframe from the video found a report published by local news outlet ETV Bharat on May 2, 2024 featuring Ranaut's full speech (archived link).

In the original video, she referred to her Congress party opponent Vikramaditya Singh, who has a strong political background and a royal lineage, and his mother, parliamentarian Pratibha Singh (archived link).

Ranaut alluded to a domestic violence case filed by Vikramaditya's estranged wife against him, his mother, sister and brother, which local media reported on in 2022. 

She can be heard saying, "One thing has deeply hurt me. I know that the prince doesn't treat his wife well. Maybe he doesn't know how to respect women. His wife has claimed she was tortured." 

The footage circulated in the false posts appeared at the original video's 45-second mark.

She said, "Congress state president Pratibha Singh, whom I regard as a mother figure, said at a rally yesterday that this crowd that turns up to see Kangana won't vote for her.

"They came to see who Kangana is. Is she an angel brought in from Mumbai? So they came to see this thing. But I am not this thing."

This portion of her speech was shared out of context.

Ranaut went on to criticise Pratibha, saying, "It's disheartening that despite being a woman, Pratibha's perspective on women doesn't align with what's right."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false posts (left) and the original video shared in ETV Bharat’s report (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the false post video shared on Facebook (left) and ETV Bharat’s video (right)

Ranaut's original speech was also quoted by the Hindi-language media outlet ABP news on May 3, 2024.

AFP has previously debunked misinformation related to the Indian elections here and here.

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