Old video of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan goes viral linking to hunger strike of Sonam Wangchuk

Activist Sonam Wangchuk has been on an indefinite hunger strike since 28 June, 2026, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in the NEET and CBSE exams. Against this backdrop, a split-screen video is going viral on social media that shows Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan enjoying a meal alongside footage of Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, suggesting that both events are occurring at the same time.

Let’s check the truth.

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Fact check:

We started our investigation with a reverse image search on Google, and the results led us to a similar video uploaded by ANI on 20 March, 2024. The caption states, “Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan celebrated ‘Pakhal Divas’ having pakhal (fermented rice) with Rajya Sabha Vice-Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh, former Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and ASI Director General Prof. Kishore Kumar Basa at his residence in Delhi.”

#WATCH | Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan celebrated ‘Pakhal Divas’ having pakhal (fermented rice) with Rajya Sabha vice-chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh, former Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu and ASI Director General Prof Kishore Kumar Basa at his residence in Delhi.… pic.twitter.com/Gpg6GXjJl3

— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2024

Using these hints, we conducted further searches and found several media reports regarding this event. As per reports, in 2023, an online campaign was started to celebrate the popular traditional Odia dish “pakhala”—fermented rice water—as Pakhala Divas on March 20 every year. 

Pradhan celebrated Pakhala Diwas at his Delhi residence to commemorate the traditional Odia dish. He was joined by Harivansh Narayan Singh, former deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, former ambassador of India to the United States, and retired Prof. Kishor K. Basa of Utkal University.

Based on this evidence, we can understand that an old video of the minister during a Pakhala Diwas celebration at his official residence in Delhi is falsely shared, linking to hunger strike by Wangchuk.

Conclusion

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the video to be Misleading. This video of Dharmendra Pradhan is from March 2024 during a Pakhal Diwas celebration at his official residence in Delhi; it is unrelated to the ongoing hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk.