A video which shows several people clashing with each other on the streets is being shared as a recent incident from West Bengal, ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
What have users said?: An X (formerly Twitter) user shared the video with a caption that said, "Kolkata's Quest for Free & Fair Elections: The Struggle Continues. The democracy is thriving in WB under TMC and #INDIAAlliance and dying in the center under the dictatorship of Modi/BJP."
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Are these claims true?: While the video is from West Bengal, it dates back to August 2022 and has no connection to the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
It shows a clash between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers.
How did we find that out?: At roughly around the 0:20 timestamp, we noticed a signboard in the background that said, "I love Chinsurah." For the unversed, Chinsurah is a city in West Bengal.
This indicated towards the possibility of the image being from West Bengal.
The city's name could be seen in the background.
(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
News reports: Taking this forward, we performed a Google Lens search on several keyframes of the video and came across a news report published by ETV Bharat.
The report said that the clash broke out between TMC and BJP workers in Hooghly district of West Bengal.
It further mentioned that TMC MLA Asit Majumdar was accused of beating up BJP supporters, who alleged that the clash broke out after his vehicle was stopped by BJP supporters and tried to assault him.
The report was published on 5 August 2022.
(Source: ETV Bharat/Screenshot)
On performing a keyword search on YouTube using words like "bjp tmc workers clash hooghly", we came across similar visuals published on the official channel of Times Now.
The video was shared on 6 August 2022 and its title said, "West Bengal: Clash Raged Between TMC And BJP Workers In Hooghly District | English News."
Comparing visuals: Team WebQoof compared the visuals from the viral video with the news report on YouTube and found that both of them were indeed from the same incident.
A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.
(Source: YouTube/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Conclusion: It is clear that the video is old and does not show a recent incident.
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