CLAIM
A viral video on social media claims that the man in the video, allegedly a BJP leader, is giving an “open threat to kill journalists”.
In the 1-minute-22-second video, he can be heard urging the reporter to not ask questions that are anti-government and anti-BJP, else he will be “lying somewhere like Gauri Lankesh’s brother.”
He says, “आपके सवाल से हमको लगता है की आपको अपने परिवार से डर नहीं लगता है क्या? आप किसके शासनकाल में और किसके विरोध में सवाल कर रहे हैं ये आप नहीं समझ रहे हैं, मैं बता दे रहा हूँ शायद भूल गए होंगे | आप पुराने हिंदुस्तान में नहीं जी रहे हैं, आप बदलते हुए हिंदुस्तान में जी रहे हैं.” (Translated: Hearing your question, it seems that you are not scared about your family. You are not understanding that you are asking this under whose governance and against whom. I will tell you, maybe you have forgotten, you are not living in old India, you are living in changing India.)
Several social media users have shared the video on Twitter with the same claim.
The Quint received a query on the claim made in the video via its WhatsApp helpline.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim along with the video is false. The video in circulation is a trimmed version of the 26-minute video uploaded by ‘Times of Today’. The man in the video is not a BJP leader, but former district president of Congress Seva Dal. Hence, the words are not a threat to journalists, but a dig taken at the BJP government by a member of Congress’ grassroots organisation.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Since the video carries a logo of ‘Times of Today’, we searched its YouTube channel and found that the video was indeed uploaded by the channel on 16 November. However, the viral video is only a clipped version of the 26-minute video that was uploaded by Times of Today.
At 01:32, the man seen in the video is introduced by the reporter as Varanasi’s Harish Mishra, former district president of Congress Seva Dal. The reporter asks him questions on the economic slowdown, farmer suicides, among others.
At 11:44 minutes, responding to the reporter’s question on farmer suicides, Mishra says facetiously, “पंकजी जी किसानों के बात पर तो जवाब हम आपको दे ही देंगे, लेकिन आपके सवाल से हमको लगता है की आपको अपने परिवार से डर नहीं लगता है क्या? आप किसके शासनकाल में और किसके विरोध में सवाल कर रहे हैं ये आप नहीं समझ रहे हैं , मैं बता दे रहा हूँ शायद भूल गए होंगे, आप पुराने हिंदुस्तान में नहीं जी रहे हैं, आप बदलते हुए हिंदुस्तान में जी रहे हैं.” (Translated: Pankaji Ji, I will give you an answer on farmers, but hearing your question, it looks like you are not scared about your family. You are not understanding that you are asking this under whose governance and against whom. I will tell you, maybe you have forgotten, you are not living in old India, you are living in changing India.)
Further, he goes on to say, “इस देश में वाजिब सवाल करने वालों की हत्या कर दी जाती है, फिर आपने कहा की किसान की बात” (Translated: In the country, people asking valid questions are killed, and then you are asking about farmers.)
Throughout the video, he can be heard taking a dig at the Modi government, while also praising the Congress party.
At 16:33 minutes, when questioned about which he’d party he’d fight the UP state elections for in 2022, he said, “Any party which is anti-BJP, I will fight from that.”
So the video does not show a threat from a BJP member to journalists, but a remark from a member of Congress Seva Dal in criticism of the BJP.
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