Picture From Rajasthan Shared as BJP Leader Attacked in UP During Campaigning

Some of the posts on social media also claimed that the picture shows UP's Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.

A photo of a man in a ripped white clothing being accompanied by a policeman and followed by a small crowd is doing the rounds on social media.

The claim reads that the man is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader who was chased and attacked by villagers in Uttar Pradesh when he went to campaign for votes.

The claim comes against the backdrop of the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

However, the claim is false. The photo shows former Rajasthan Legislative Assembly speaker and BJP leader Kailash Meghwal. In the viral claim, Meghwal is seen leaving the site of a farmers’ protest in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan after being thrashed by the crowd in July 2021.

CLAIM

The photo is being shared with different captions which claim that a BJP leader was thrashed in a UP village while campaigning. Some posts also claim that the man seen in the photo is UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.

This post by ‘UP Express’ was liked by over 2,200 users and shared by about 600 people on Facebook at the time of writing this article.

Archived versions of more claims on social media can be seen here, here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We ran a reverse image search on the viral photo, and the search engine suggested that the photo might show "kailash meghval bjp (sic).”

The results led us to an Aaj Tak report published on 30 July, 2021 which mentioned that farmers protesting against the now-repealed farm laws in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar attacked BJP leader Kailash Meghwal.

According to the article, Meghwal had arrived at the protest site to participate in a BJP protest over irrigation and inflation when the incident happened. It also carried another, similar photograph.

Using keywords, we looked for more information regarding the incident.

According to this NDTV report, clashes erupted after the United Kisan Morcha – a farmers’ body - announced its opposition to the BJP protest.

It added that farmer leaders as well as police personnel came to Meghwal’s rescue and that the police had to resort to using force to disperse the group.

We also came across a tweet by news agency ANI which carried four photos of the incident.

Evidently, a photo showing BJP leader Kailash Meghwal with ripped clothes following an attack is being shared to falsely claim that a BJP leader was attacked in Uttar Pradesh while campaigning.

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