A video of the news channel Zee News' show, DNA, is going viral on social media.
In this anchor, Sudhir Chaudhary can be heard saying that during a procession in Telangana, protesters tampered with India's flag and wrote 'Kalma' (Islamic phrases) in place of the Ashok Chakra.
What is the claim?: This video is being shared as a recent incident in Telangana after the victory of the Congress party in the state.
Users also wrote that right after the party's victory, Muslims in the state tampered with the 'Ashok Chakra.'
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)
What is the truth?: This report is not recent or related to the victory of the Congress party in Telangana.
This video of Sudhir Chaudhary's show is from June 2022. During a protest against Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Nupur Sharma in Telangana, the Kalma was written in place of Ashok Chakra in the tricolour.
How did we find out?: The viral video is from Zee News show DNA which Sudhir Chaudhary used to host before joining Aaj Tak in July 2022.
From here it became clear that this incident happened before July 2022 and not recently as Chaudhary is no longer the host of the show DNA.
When we checked the official YouTube handle of Zee News, we found a video of the DNA show uploaded on 10 June 2022.
In this video of 1 hour 4 minutes, the viral video portion can be seen from 33 minutes 11 seconds.
According to this report, this incident of defacing the tricolour took place in Mahabubnagar, Telangana.
There were protests in different parts of the country against Nupur Sharma for her comments on Prophet Mohammad.
The incident took place in Mahabubnagar, Telangana.
(Source: Zee News YouTube/Screenshot)
More reports related to this incident: With a relevant keyword search, we found more news reports by Deccan Chronicle dated of 11 June 2022 and India TV website dated 10 June 2022.
According to reports, after the Friday prayers, there was a protest against Nupur Sharma in Mahabubnagar, during which a flag with Kalma written in place of Ashok Chakra in the tricolor was hoisted.
According to the report, this incident is of June 2022.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle/Screenshot)
Conclusion: It is clear that the viral video is from 2022 and not related to the Congress victory in the state. The video shows a protest against Nupur Sharma that took place in Telangana.
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