Fact Check: Old video of intra-party rivalry shared as public thrashing BJP netas during campaign
India Today
Amid high-pitch poll campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, netizens are sharing a video of a brawl with the claim that BJP leaders are being "welcomed" by public thrashing. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim along with the video to be misleading.
A video of Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Vikram Saini being chased away by villagers in his own constituency in Muzaffarnagar district is being widely shared on social media.
At the same time, some netizens are also sharing a video of a scuffle with the claim that this is how BJP leaders are being “welcomed” by the public now. A BJP flag can also be spotted in the video showing two groups of people raining blows on one another. Sarcastic comments go on to say that “ache din” for the BJP has arrived.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim along with the video to be misleading. The video is from April 2019, when two groups of BJP workers clashed during a rally in Ajmer, Rajasthan.
Using InVID and reverse image search, we found that the video was shared by several social media users last year as scenes from BJP’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra in UP. But we could not find any credible news report confirming that the incident was from the said event.
A further reverse image search using a combination of keywords finally revealed news reports on the incident that carried the same video.
According to these reports published on April 12, 2019, two groups of BJP workers clashed during a rally at Masuda in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district.
The clash was reported on April 11, 2019, at a time the Lok Sabha election was underway. According to some reports, the clash broke out when a BJP candidate, Bhagirath Choudhary, came to address a rally in Masuda. But the real reason behind the clash was not mentioned clearly in these reports.
