A video of several people spray painting over Hindi texts on signboards is being circulated on the internet as recent visuals from Tamil Nadu following the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.
What did users say?: Those sharing the video have uploaded it with a caption that said, "Anti-Hindi Hate started in TamilNadu after Swearing-in of TVK Vijay. This is the only thing they knew & call BJP a communal party (sic)."
What's the truth?: The video could be traced back to at least March of this year, which predates the formation of the new government in Tamil Nadu under Vijay's leadership. This meant that the viral claim was misleading.
How did we find that out?: On conducting a Google Lens search on the keyframes of the viral video, we found the same visuals shared on an X handle named 'We Dravidians'.
The clip was posted on 12 March with a caption that said, "Ban Sanskrit & Hindi & Stop imposing them on us! #StopHindiImposition."
This clearly proved that the video predated the swearing-in ceremony of CM Vijay.
News reports: A report published by The Wire said that anti-Hindi protests had erupted in Tamil Nadu after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on 11 March.
The report said that participants of the 'May 17 Movement' spray painted black the signboards at the Chennai Park Railway Station.
Other sources: The official YouTube channel of 'May 17 Movement', too, had shared visuals from the incident on 14 March. Its title when translated to English said, "Hindi Destruction at Park Railway Station | Thirumurugan Gandhi."
Conclusion: It is evident that the video is old and is being incorrectly shared as a recent one.
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