Fact-Check: Old Video of TMC Leader Being Attacked Shared as Recent

The video is from 2021. The TMC leader alleged that she was attacked by BJP workers.

Fact-Check: This incident took place during the West Bengal State assembly polls in 2021. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A video showing a mob chasing a woman off is being shared with the claim that it features the Trinamool Congress leader Sujata Khan.

• The claim further reads that the TMC candidate was beaten up by locals and other party workers in Arambagh when she was threatening people to vote for her party.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

This post had 495.9K views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is this true?: No, this claim is false as this video dates back to 2021 during the West Bengal state assembly polls.

• Sujata Khan was attacked in her constituency, Arambagh. She alleged that the attackers were the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) workers.

• whereas the Bengal BJP claimed that the anger of the people against TMC led to the attack.

How did we find out?: At first, we divided the viral video into multiple keyframes and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• We came across a video report by Anandabazar Patrika from 6 April 2021. Frames in both videos matched with one another.

Here are the similarities between the two frames. 

• It was uploaded with the title, "Sujata Mandal Khan attacked by goons with bamboo stick."

• To inquire further, we ran a relevant keyword search and came across news reports from The Quint and The Times of India from April 2021.

• The Quint noted that in the third phase of state elections, the TMC on had filed a complaint with the Election Commission after party MLA and candidate from Arambagh, Sujata Mondal was attacked in her constituency.

• The TMC blamed the BJP behind the attack, whereas the BJP claimed that it was the people's anger against the incumbent government.

• Addtionally, none of the reports mentioned anything about Khan threatening people to vote for TMC.

Here is a preview of TOI's report. 

Conclusion: It is clear that an old video of the TMC leader is being shared as recent. The video is from April 2021 during the West Bengal state assembly elections.

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