As Karnataka is set to go to polls on May 10, 2023, the competition between the BJP and the Congress is heating up across social media. A video of a mob running after and vandalising a BJP campaign vehicle is circulated across social media.
Claim:
The video shows a BJP campaign vehicle proceeding through a road as several persons march up to the vehicle and vandalise it. The persons can be seen tearing the posters from the vehicle and hitting it with sticks.
The video was shared by Karnataka Congress with the claim in Kannada which reads, “BJP, which was holding a convention of empty chairs, continues to face public outrage. Not only the BJP candidates, but even seeing the BJP's campaign vehicle, people are disgusted and outraged. Answers to the price rise of each stone @BJP4Karnataka that fell on the vehicle, corruption, fraud, mismanagement.”
Twitter user, ‘Брат’ shared the video with the same claim.
The claim is viral across Twitter and Facebook with the same claim.
Fact Check:
We broke down the keyframes of the viral video using InVid’s Keyframe Analysis software. Then after conducting a reverse image search, we came across a video tweeted by ANI on November 1, 2022. The caption of the video notes, “A clash broke out allegedly between TRS and BJP workers, on the last day of the Munugode by-election campaign, in Telangana’s Nalgonda”.
The same BJP campaign vehicle, which is seen in the viral video, can be seen from the 15th second mark in the ANI video. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which was renamed Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), is a party founded by the current chief minister of Telangana, K Chandrashekar Rao.
Taking a cue from this, we conducted a keyword search which led us to a report by the Times of India. The video titled,l ‘Telangana: Clash between TRS, BJP workers during Munugode by-election campaign’ was uploaded on November 2, 2022, showing the viral footage that is being shared across social media.
The TOI report is captioned, “A clash broke out allegedly between TRS and BJP workers on the last day of the Munugode by-election campaign, in Telangana on November 01.”
We also came across a video report by Times Now uploaded on November 2, 2022, on their YouTube channel. We closely explained the video and noticed the video is shot from a higher angle and shows the incidents seen in the viral video. At the 2.08 mark, a person can be seen hitting the BJP election vehicle.
Further, a news report by the New Indian Express was published on November 2, 2023, titled, ‘10 injured as TRS, BJP workers clash in Telangana’. The report said that the Munugode bypoll had at least 10 persons belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) injured during a clash in Palivela village of Munugode mandal. The New Indian Express report added that BJP’s campaign chariot and cars were vandalised.
We also came across a Twitter thread posted by G Kishan Reddy, the current Union minister of tourism, on the vandalisation and violent clashes. The Twitter thread posted on November 1, 2022, Reddy talks about the alleged assault on the BJP in Munugode. “I strongly condemn the attack on Smt & Sh Rajender garu & our Karyakartas,” he says in his tweet.
Conclusion:
We found that the viral video is from clashes between TRS and BJP supporters during the Munugode bypoll in November 2022. The video is not related to the upcoming Karnataka elections. Thus, the viral claim is false.
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