Fact Check: BJP MP Manoj Tiwari Did Not Concede Defeat to Kanhaiya Kumar Before Lok Sabha Election Result

Created By Logically Facts

Co-Published By: LokmatTimes.com

A viral video featuring BJP MP and actor Manoj Tiwari is circulating on social media claiming that the leader has already conceded defeat against the Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar before the Lok Sabha election result. The video features a Hindi text overlay that translates to: "Manoj Tiwari has accepted defeat."In the 11-second clip, Mr Tiwari, speaking to a journalist in a moving car, says, "Look, I was aware of my defeat, but the sad thing was that I had been winning for a long time, and then I felt like I was about to lose (translated from Hindi)."On X, the video was shared with captions that read: "The dancer accepted defeat even before the elections. How will the BJP cross 400 (seats) like this? Kanhaiya Kumar is amazing." Manoj Tiwari contested  the Lok Sabha elections from the North East Delhi constituency, which he currently represents as a Member of Parliament. The constituency voted on May 25. This article aims to fact-check the validity of this claim.

Fact: The clip of Manoj Tiwari talking about his unsuccessful 2009 contest has been misinterpreted to claim he has purportedly accepted defeat against Mr Kumar in the ongoing polls. Upon spotting the 'Jist' watermark in the viral video, Logically Facts  tracked its extended version on the Jist YouTube channel. This video was uploaded on March 31. The video, titled "I Spent A Day With Manoj Tiwari To Discuss Pyar, Cricket, Rahul Gandhi, Modi & Kejriwal | Part-1," runs for about 1 hour and 11 minutes. The viral segment appears between the 34:04 mark and the 34:14 timestamps.

The video is of Tiwari interacting with a journalist, and around the 28-minute mark in this clip, Tiwari delves into the 2009 general elections. He mentions that he was initially unaffiliated with any party and even campaigned for money for his now-rival Congress in Lucknow. Tiwari recounts how Amar Singh, a politician who served as the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP), brought him into his party. At around the 31:10 mark, Tiwari says that despite initial hesitation, he agreed to contest the election as an SP candidate after being urged by Amar Singh at a gathering that included actor Amitabh Bachchan and businessman Anil Ambani. Further, Tiwari recalls his hesitance to contest the 2009 elections against BJP leader Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur due to his past affiliation with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the saffron party. He also narrates an incident where he fled to Mumbai during the campaign to evade facing Adityanath and the fear of inevitable defeat, only to be apprehended and returned.

Then, around the 34:04 mark, Tiwari says, "Look, I was aware of my defeat, but the sad thing was that I had been winning for a long time; I felt like I was about to lose." He then says, "But even in that defeat, there was a victory because of Yogi Adityanath, who stood for Hindu culture, civilization, and Sanatan culture….We didn't know that Narendra Modi would become the country's prime minister at the time. I'm talking about 2009. In 2009, you could see there was a situation of complete political instability throughout the country." This bit where it is clear that he was referring to the 2009 elections has been omitted from the viral clip to make it appear that he conceded defeat in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. To conclude, the video is fake.

This story was originally published by  Logically Facts  and republished by LokmatTimes.com  as part of the Shakti Collective.