CLAIM
A viral video on social media is trolling West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her expression when she was allegedly greeted with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans. While some posts claim that the incident took place outside the Parliament, others claim that it happened outside Bengal Raj Bhavan.
A Facebook page ‘Social Tamasha’ shared the viral video along with the caption: ‘ दीदी, अरी वो दीदी गुस्सा तो नहीं आ रहा
बंगाल के राजभवन में दीदी के सामने लगे जय श्री राम के नारे’
(Translated: Did, oh did, hope you aren’t angry. Slogans of Jai Shree Ram being raised outside Bengal’s Raj Bhavan)
Several social media users including Ravi Rai, film and television producer and director, and founder of fake news website Postcard News Mahesh Hegde shared the viral video with an identical claim.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim around the video is false. In the original video, ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans cannot be heard. The audio has been taken from another video and used in the viral video.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Taking a cue from the viral post, we ran a search on Facebook using keywords ‘Mamata,’ ‘Banerjee,’ ‘Bengal,’ ‘State’ and ‘Assembly.’ This led us to a post shared by a Facebook user who had posted the viral video but with a different claim.
In his post, the caption along with the video reads: ‘West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has emerged showing her in the premises of the state Assembly coming face to face with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief Dilip Ghosh. Banerjee is seen with a frown on her face as Ghosh folds his hands to greet her. The Bengal CM is seen leaving without returning the greetings with folded hands.’
Consequently, we searched on Facebook using keywords ‘Mamata,’ ‘Banerjee,’ ‘State,’ ‘Assembly,’ ‘Dilip’ and ‘Ghosh.’ This led us to a post shared by Indrajit Kundu who is the West Bengal correspondent of India Today.
He had shared the viral video on 1 February but with the claim that it was shot when Mamata Banerjee and Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh came face to face at the State Assembly.
In the viral video, ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants can be heard but in the original video, no such chanting can be heard.
To find out the origin of the chants, we searched on YouTube using keywords ‘Mamata,’ ‘Banerjee,’ ‘Jai,’ ‘Shri’ and ‘Ram.’ This led us to a video shared by The New Indian Express in which similar ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants can be heard.
The search also showed that the same video was shared by NDTV and claimed that the video was shot when Mamata Banerjee was greeted with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans while she was driving into Chandrakona town. She went there on 4 May to campaign for Arambagh seat, reported NDTV.
As she entered Chandrakona and was crossing some supporters who were lined up along the road, chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ began. She immediately rolled down her car’s window and asked the driver to stop the car. She came out of the car and asked the people who were chanting these slogans to come but they had fled by then, the report added.
Hence, neither the viral video was shot outside the Parliament, nor were ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans raised when the viral video was shot.
This claim had been earlier been debunked by BOOM.
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