An old video of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's emotional speech, in which he appears to cry, is viral with the false claim that he broke down after the recent defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi assembly elections.
BOOM found that the video is from July 2024, when Mann participated in a protest alongside INDIA bloc leaders, criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government for misusing central agencies and demanding Kejriwal's release from jail.
Aam Aadmi Party lost the recent Delhi assembly elections, setting the path for its opposition BJP to form a government in the national capital after more than two decades.
In the 44-second video, Bhagwant Mann appears emotional as he questions the audience on which court to approach and which lawyer to hire to fight the BJP government. He also adds achivements of the AAP government including schools, hospitals built by the party and providing free electricity to Delhi residents.
The video is being shared with an overlaid Punjabi text that translates to, "After the defeat of Delhi". (Original Text in Punjabi: ਦਿੱਲੀ ਦੀ ਹਾਰ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ)
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a related keyword search on X and found the same speech by Mann in a Punjab Tak video report uploaded on July 30, 2024
The caption in Punjabi with the report stated that Bhagwant Mann, who reached Delhi, cried on stage while giving a speech at that time.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The 9-minute video report features Mann's speech criticising Kejriwal's arrest and expressing concern over the AAP chief's health. Starting at the 3:12 mark in the video report, Mann can be heard delivering the same speech as in the viral video.
Mann says, "This is too much friend… where should we go then, should we go to the Supreme Court...which court is there...which lawyer should we hire...what was our fault...we built schools...we built hospitals...we made electricity free, what was our fault? This is too much friend (wiping tears), this is too much. CBI backtracked, ED backtracked, Sanjay Bhai remained in jail for six months, what did ED say when he got bail, 'sorry sir we do not have any proof'."
The same speech was streamed live on AAP's official YouTube channel, with the description mentioning that I.N.D.I.A bloc members protested at Jantar Mantar in support of Kejriwal.
Mann's speech from the viral video can be heard in the live stream starting at the 1:40:59 mark..
