Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, the opposition leader in Telangana, former Chief Minister of the state, and chief of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), celebrated his 72nd birthday on 17 February 2026.
On the occasion, several leaders conveyed their wishes, and reports stated that around 10,000 mangrove saplings were planted in the Sundarbans as part of the celebrations (here, here and here).
Amid these events, a video (here and here) began circulating on social media claiming that the Burj Khalifa displayed KCR’s photo along with the slogans “Jai Telangana” and “Jai Hind” on his birthday. The viral post suggests that the skyscraper featured this tribute as part of his birthday celebrations. Let us examine the truth behind this claim.
Claim: The video shows the Burj Khalifa displaying KCR’s photo to mark his 72nd birthday in February 2026.
Fact: The video is not related to KCR’s 72nd birthday. It is from October 2021, when the Burj Khalifa was illuminated to mark Telangana’s Bathukamma festival as part of an initiative by Telangana Jagruthi. Therefore, the claim is MISLEADING.
To verify the claim, we conducted a keyword search to check whether any such display was organised at the Burj Khalifa on the occasion of KCR’s 72nd birthday. However, we found no credible reports, official announcements, or media coverage indicating that such an event took place in February 2026.
We then performed a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video. This led us to the same visuals uploaded on social media platforms and YouTube channels in October 2021 (here, here and here). Posts from that period stated that the display was organised in connection with Telangana’s floral festival, Bathukamma.
Further search led us to several news reports which featured keyframes matching those seen in the viral video (here, here and here). According to these reports, on 23 October 2021, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was illuminated to mark Telangana’s floral festival, Bathukamma. The display included images of then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao along with slogans such as “Jai Hind,” “Jai Telangana,” and “Jai KCR,” as part of an initiative by Kalvakuntla Kavitha and her organisation, Telangana Jagruthi.
The event was organised to promote Telangana’s cultural heritage globally and was live-streamed on social media. This confirms that the viral video is from the 2021 Bathukamma celebrations and is unrelated to KCR’s 72nd birthday in 2026. More
By Murshid M
