Video shows crowd gathered for bullock cart race, not Indian opposition leader's rally

Published on August 27, 2025 at 04:06
3 min read
By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India

As eastern India's Bihar gears up for elections later this year, politicians across party lines have begun canvassing in the state, but footage of a massive crowd does not show a rally in support of opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi as claimed in social media posts. The video was filmed weeks earlier at a bullock cart race in Maharashtra state.

"Watch the charisma of Rahul Gandhi. If the media has courage, let them show it on TV," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on August 19, 2025.

The post also shares a 25-second clip showing a large crowd gathered in an open ground with a text overlay that reads, "Rahul Gandhi has earned this. The public has come to see Rahul Gandhi."

Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on August 20, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The false claim surfaced after Gandhi launched a month-long "voter rights" rally in the key battleground state of Bihar on August 17 (archived link).

His Congress party will challenge the state's ruling coalition formed by the Janata Dal United party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in an election expected later this year (archived here).

The party also alleged the Election Commission of India (ECI) had embarked on a "mass disenfranchisement" exercise after it gave voters in the state just weeks to prove their citizenship, requiring documents that few possess in a registration revamp.

The ECI has called Gandhi's accusation "false and misleading".

The clip circulated with similar claims on Facebook, Instagram, X and Threads.

Some users appeared to believe the video shows a crowd of Gandhi supporters.

"Thanks to the public of Bihar for their excellent support to Rahul Gandhi," one user commented.

Another user wrote, "Hail Rahul Gandhi! He is the most popular leader today."

But the clip actually shows spectators gathered for an annual bullock cart race held in Maharashtra in western India.

A Google reverse image search with keyframes from the falsely shared clip found a similar video on Instagram shared on June 28, 2025 (archived link).

Its Marathi-language caption reads, "Pedgaon Hind Kesari ground 2025. Heartbeat of Millions -- Mathur 1001", with a text overlay reading, "look how the white Mathur (bull) walks".

Mathur 1001 is a cross-bred bull famous in the region for winning several races (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false posts (L) and the Instagram video

Subsequent keyword searches found multiple videos of the race on YouTube and Instagram shared in June 2025 (archived here and here).

Images of the venue on Google Maps also match the visuals in the false clip (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and image on Google Maps, with matching features highlighted by AFP

AFP has previously debunked other false claims related to Rahul Gandhi.

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