Fact Check: Rahul Gandhi calls Jagannath Rath Yatra ‘a drama’? No, speech video is edited

The Jagannath Rath Yatra is an annual Hindu festival celebrated in Puri, Odisha, dedicated to Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. In 2025, the Rath Yatra in Puri began on June 27 and concluded on July 5.

In the above context, a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi went viral on social media in which he can be heard saying, “When the Jagannath Yatra is held in Odisha, the grand chariots are pulled through the streets, watched and followed by lakhs of devotees—and then, a drama takes place.”

The video is shared with a caption suggesting that Rahul Gandhi was calling the Jagannath Rath Yatra ‘a drama’.

A social media user shared the video and wrote, “When ‘Jagannath Yatra’ takes place in Odisha, there is drama in it—Rahul Gandhi. Look at this poisonous snake born from a foreign womb openly attacking the faith of Hindus.”

SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is edited.

On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared on the YouTube channel of Indian National Congress on July 11. The video is shared with the title, ‘Shri Mallikarjun Kharge & Shri Rahul Gandhi | Samvidhan Bachao Samavesh.’ In the video, at around 25:30 seconds, we can see Rahul Gandhi taking a jibe at Gautam Adani and how he is allegedly taking control of the BJP governments in both Centre and State.

In the video, he is heard saying, “Adani ji runs the Odisha government, and he controls Narendra Modi. When the Jagannath Yatra takes place in Odisha, lakhs of people gather to witness and follow the chariot procession. And then, suddenly, a drama unfolds—the chariot is stopped for Adani ji and his family. That tells you everything about who really controls the Odisha government. This isn’t the government of Odisha, or the people—it belongs to five or six billionaires like Adani.”

We further found that the incident was also reported by The Indian Express YouTube channel on July 12.

The video was shared with a description that reads, “Accusing the BJP government in Odisha of being run by Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday alleged that the Jagannath Yatra chariots were stopped for the Indian billionaire and his family last month.” We found at the 1:05-minute mark, Rahul Gandhi is seen taking a jibe at Adani like in the viral video.

The Telegraph India also reported on Adani’s visit to Jagannath Rath Yatra on June 29. According to the report, Opposition parties alleged that the Jagannath Rath Yatra was deliberately halted to allow Gautam Adani and his family to pull the chariot, accusing Odisha’s government of favouring billionaires.

We further found that on July 29, a stampede happened during the yatra.

According to a report by The Times of India, a tragic stampede at Puri’s Rath Yatra outside Gundicha Temple resulted in three deaths and over 20 injuries. Eyewitnesses cite overcrowding from 20,000 devotees, which also led to paths being obstructed by trucks. Officials and the locals blamed gross crowd management failures despite advanced surveillance.

Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is shared out of context.