Did Nitish Kumar Say He'll 'Never Join Hands With RJD'? No, Video Is Clipped

The video is from 2014 when Nitish Kumar said that JD(U) would never join hands with the BJP.

The claims state that Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had said that his party would never enter into an agreement with the RJD. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Several BJP leaders and supporters of the party shared a 28-second video of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in which he can be heard saying that "it is impossible to enter into any agreement with you," with the claim that he was referring to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party.

The video is being shared in the backdrop of the Janata Dal (United) leader becoming the CM of Bihar again for the eighth time, and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav swearing in as the deputy CM on 10 August.

Kumar had resigned as the CM after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Monday, 8 August, only to stake claim to form the government again hours later. He was elected as the leader of the grand alliance of nine parties, including the RJD and Congress.

However, we found that the video was from 2014 when he took a dig at the BJP, saying in the Assembly that it was "impossible" to enter into any agreement with the BJP.

CLAIM

The video is shared by the former state in-charge of Bharatiya Janata Party's IT cell Shivraj Singh Dabi, along with the claim in Hindi that reads, "इसके बाद किसी भी परिस्थिति में लौटकर राजद के साथ जाने का प्रश्न नहीं बनता... रहे या मिट्टी में मिल जाये आप लोगों के साथ कोई समझौता भविष्य में संभव नहीं है।"

[Translation: After this, there is no question of going back to the RJD under any circumstances... It is impossible to get into any agreement with you people in future.]

An archive of the tweet can be seen here. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The video is also shared by BJP Delhi's IT head Punit Agarwal (archive here), BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Jai Hind (here), and ANI journalist Amit Kumar (here).

More archived links on Facebook can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

We searched on Google with keywords in Hindi taken from Kumar's speech and found a news report published in the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran on 18 February 2014.

The article read that the Bihar CM had said in the Assembly that there can be no alliance with the BJP again.

The story was published on 18 February 2014. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Next, we found the live Assembly proceedings video which showed the 12th session of the 15th Bihar Legislative Assembly on Webcast.

The video was from 18 February 2014.

In the video, from 1:19:24 hours, Kumar can be heard saying in Hindi, which translates as, 'We haven't backstabbed anyone, you have backstabbed us. Now that after 17 years this incident has happened, then you should know this, that we trusted you, that was Atal Bihari Vajpayee's era. Now, it is no more his era, so (LK) Advani had called us up when we were separating, saying that (party) president has promised you, and that it will be fulfilled. But we said that we can't listen to this anymore, and the president who had promised, is no more the president, and who would listen to all these talks? So, we went our own way. That era has ended. Now, you have taken a new form.'

The Bihar CM continues, and this is the part which has been shared now, and can be heard from 1:20:14-1:20:41 hours, where he says, "After this, under any circumstance, there is no way we would go back. We remain or get mixed into the soil, but there will be no agreement with you all. This is just impossible. That chapter has ended, because the trust has been broken."

Video from 2014. 

(Source: Webcast/Screenshot)

Clearly, a video from 2014, wherein Kumar can be heard saying that the party can't enter into any agreement with the BJP, is being shared on social media with the false claim that he was speaking about the RJD.

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