Clip of BJP, TRS Workers’ Clash in Telangana Falsely Shared as Incident From UP

The video shows a scuffle between BJP and TRS workers on 8 February and Jangaon, Telangana.

A video showing people carrying pink flags and scarves chasing and beating people carrying saffron scarves is being shared to claim that it shows members of a political party being attacked after its leaders were attacked in Uttar Pradesh.

The claim comes as Uttar Pradesh finishes its second phase of polling for its 2022 Assembly elections.

We found that the claim was untrue. In the clip, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) workers are seen chasing and thrashing members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jangaon, Telangana after the former took issue with TRS workers trying to burn an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi a protest.

CLAIM

The video is being shared with a claim that after politicians from the party were attacked, it was now the workers’ turn for the same. The claim with Hindi text was accompanied with hashtags related to the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Archived versions of more posts with the same claim can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the video into keyframes and ran reverse image searches on some of them.

One of the results led us to a tweet with the video that was shared with a hashtag in Telugu which read ‘Telangana Next Incident.’

Under it, we found responses by users where one noted that the people in pink were members of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Taking a cue from this, we used keywords such as 'TRS workers attack+Telangana' to look for more information. The search led us to a Times of India report, titled 'BJP, TRS workers clash violently during anti-Modi protests in Telangana.'

TOI reported that violent clashes erupted between BJP and TRS workers in Jangaon, Telangana after the latter tried to burn an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a protest against his remarks on the state's "hasty" formation during his motion of thanks speech in the Parliament on Tuesday, 8 February.

Responding to a debate at the Rajya Sabha on 8 February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the process of creating the state of Telangana in 2014 was undemocratic and done behind closed doors, with no discussion with the people of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

His comments drew sharp criticism from the state's ruling party, who called for a state-wide protest against the Prime Minister. (His remarks can be heard starting at the 1:01:43 timestamp in the video, here.)

We saw that this report carried the same visuals as the viral video.

In both clips, a pink banner is seen in the background of the clashes.

A cameraperson is also seen rushing to capture visuals as a policeman intervenes in both videos.

WHAT HAPPENED IN TELANGANA?

The incident took place near the district headquarters in Jangaon, as TRS workers and leaders reached Town Square to burn an effigy of Modi, following his remarks on the state's hasty creation in Rajya Sabha on 8 February.

Opposed to the idea, BJP workers reached the spot with party flags to protest, which gave way to tension and clashes between the two groups, as per The Hindu.

The New Indian Express noted that three BJP MLAs – Eatala Rajender, Raghunandan Rao and Raja Singh – had been placed under house arrest by the police following the scuffle, preventing them from meeting injured party members.

Evidently, the video is not from Uttar Pradesh. The clip shows clashes between BJP and TRS party workers in Jangaon, Telangana during protests following the Prime Minister's remarks on the state's formation.

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