A video which shows several men damaging cars with sticks and stones is being shared with a claim that it shows public anger against a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur.
The claim comes ahead of the Assembly elections in the state which are scheduled for early 2022 in which the BJP is fighting to retain power.
However, we found that though the video is recent and is from Uttar Pradesh, it shows clashes that broke out between the supporters of former cabinet minister and BJP leader Raja Aridaman Singh and ex-block pramukh Sugreev Singh Chauhan in Agra on 7 December.
Reportedly, a dozen people were injured and seven cars were damaged in the clashes.
CLAIM
The video is being shared with an insinuation that it was the public anger which led to them breaking cars of a BJP leader. One of the captions, along with the video reads, "भाजपा की गोरखपुरिया चिलम और गुजराती दाढ़ी के चेलो का भव्य स्वागत उत्तर प्रदेश मे शानदार तरीके से होना…"
[Translation: This is how BJP leader's are being welcomed in Uttar Pradesh.]
An archived version of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We fragmented the video into several keyframes using InVid WeVerify Google Chrome extension and followed it up with a reverse image search using 'Uttar Pradesh' as a keyword.
The reverse search led us to a video uploaded on YouTube which was a clearer version of the viral video.
We noticed that the loudspeaker read 'आगरा' (Agra).
We noticed that the loudspeaker read 'आगरा' (Agra).
(Source: YouTube/Altered by The Quint)
Using this as a clue, we ran a keyword search on Youtube and came across a 30-second news clip by Hindi news channel India TV.
The news report carried visuals similar to the viral video and mentioned that it showed clashes between the supporters of two BJP leaders in Agra.
We then conducted a keyword search using 'Agra BJP leaders supporters fight' and came across a report published on The Times of India dated 8 December.
The daily reported that Singh was preparing to flag off a bike rally in Agra's Pinahat area when Chauhan's vehicles were stopped by his supporters.
Reportedly, this led to an altercation which snowballed into a violent fight and the two groups started pelting stones and damaging vehicles.
We also came across a tweet by Hindi news outlets Live Hindustan which carried similar visuals.
Clearly, a video from Agra that shows supporters of two BJP leaders clashing is being shared with a false claim that it shows public anger against a BJP leader in UP.
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