The 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections—with 234 seats and voting on April 23—are a high-stakes contest mainly between the DMK-led alliance and the AIADMK-led bloc. New entrants like Vijay’s TVK and NTK add competition. Key issues include women-centric welfare, rising debt, crime and anti-incumbency, making it a tightly contested election.
In the above context, a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has gone viral on social media, where he is heard saying, “The law and order are declining, people are afraid to walk at night, women and children are vulnerable.”
The video is being shared with a caption suggesting that Rahul Gandhi made the above remarks in context with the DMK government in Tamil Nadu.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Rahul Gandhi directly attacking DMK.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video shows Rahul Gandhi speaking at an election rally in Lawspet, Puducherry, and his remarks are on the All India NR Congress (AINRC).
On searching with relevant keywords, we found that the longer version of the same video was shared on the YouTube channel of Rahul Gandhi on April 6. The title reads, ‘LIVE: Public Meeting | Lawspet, Puducherry’.
In the video, at around the 19:09-minute timestamp, we can hear Rahul making the same remark as in the viral video.
However, right before this remark, at around 18:10-minute timestamp, Rahul said, “It’s evident that Puducherry’s current government doesn’t reflect the will of its people; it’s been imposed from Delhi. Full statehood has long been demanded, with the BJP promising it but failing to deliver. The BJP aims to hand Puducherry over to Mr Adani; they’ve already sold the strategic Karaikal port to him.”
Later, he continues with his speech where he says, “Everyone knows a 30 per cent commission is skimmed from all contracts—the government has turned into a mere commission agent. There’s a liquor license racket; public complaints fall on deaf ears. They loot the people and even steal from the gods. Law and order are declining, people are afraid to walk at night and women and children are vulnerable.”
Since he said the above statement in Puducherry and in the video, he is heard taking a jibe at the Puducherry government, we can ascertain that the video is about the Puducherry government and not the Tamil Nadu government.
Moreover, News 18 also reported about this on April 6.
According to the report, during a rally in Puducherry, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP-led government of widespread corruption, alleging temple land grabs, fake medicine production and favouring big corporates. He claimed the government was ‘imposed from Delhi’ and doesn’t reflect people’s will, while promising welfare measures like jobs, financial aid and healthcare if his alliance comes to power.
We further found that ANI had also reported on Rahul’s speech.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
