A quote attributed to Home Minister Amit Shah from Saturday's NDTV Bihar election summit – that "any party worker on social media, whichever political party they belong to, are living off the five kilogram of ration being given by us (i.e., the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party)" – is fake.
A poster of Shah and the quote, on a social media graphic that contains NDTV India branding and a reference to the NDTV Bihar Powerplay Conclave is a digital fake, the channels wishes to stress.
The inaccurate graphic has been widely shared online, including by Surendra Rajput, the Congress' national media panellist, and another person with the X handle @masijeevi.
NDTV would like to stress the Home Minister did not make this statement at the summit.
Instead, Shah spoke on various topics, including the BJP-Janata Dal United's chances in the 2025 Bihar Assembly election and if his party would ever contest the poll solo.
"We won 325 seats in Uttar Pradesh during the 2017 Assembly election. Despite these numbers, we didn't fight alone in the state's 2022 election. Our party has a policy - it is not important how politically powerful the BJP becomes. During elections, it is important that we work with our allies and develop a state... we believe in the politics of moving forward with everyone."
Shah also countered questions from the opposition - over the leadership of the ruling alliance - and reiterated the ruling alliance will contest under JDU boss Nitish Kumar's leadership.
He said the National Democratic Alliance hopes to win 160 seats this time.
The opposition alliance, the Mahagathbandhan, has declared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial face, with VIP leader Mukesh Sahani as his deputy.
The Bihar Assembly has 243 seats. The majority mark is 122.
In the 2020 election the BJP won 74 seats on its own, one fewer than the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal's 75. The JDU won 43 seats, and the Congress, an ally of the RJD (then and now) claimed 19. The CPIML-Liberation, allied with the RJD and Congress, picked up 12 seats.
The 2025 election will be spread over two phases. The first will be on Thursday and the second will be next week, on November 11. Results will be declared on November 14.
