A clip from a protest by the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra against rising fuel prices is being shared with the false claim that they are Bajrang Dal workers protesting against the farm laws in Uttar Pradesh.
In the viral clip, a group of protesters with saffron flags are chanting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and calling the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government a thief and demanding a reduction in petrol prices.
BOOM was able to confirm that the viral clip is from a protest organised by Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar in Hingoli, Maharashtra. Bangar confirmed to us that he is the man in the clip chanting against the Modi government on the issue of fuel prices.
There have been ongoing protests at different borders of Delhi by farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh camping there since November 26, 2020. The farmers have been demanding the repeal of three farm bills passed by the central government last year.
The 31 seconds clip was tweeted by Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Surendra Rajput with the caption which when translated reads, "Now even Bajrang Dal of BJP is with farmers."
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(In Hindi - अब #भाजपा का #बजरंग दल भी #किसान के साथ।)
Viral on Facebook
On searching with the caption, "बजरंग दल ने किसान विरोधी काले कृषि कानून के खिलाफ विरोध किया ऒर प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी को चोर बोला अब उनको सच्चाई पता चल गई है यह चौकीदार नही चोर है", we found that the clip is being shared with the false claim.
(In English - Bajrang Dal is protesting against the anti-farmer farm laws and is calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a thief, even they know the truth now)
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Also Read: Edited Video Shared As PM Modi Evading Question On Fuel Price Hike
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral clip is from a protest against fuel price hike organised by Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar in Hingoli, Maharashtra and not by the Bajrang Dal in Uttar Pradesh as being claimed.On hearing the slogans being raised in the viral clip, we heard that they were talking in Marathi which indicated that the clip is from Maharashtra and we spotted a poster at 21 seconds with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray and late Bal Thackeray on it. Additionally, the protesters were sloganeering on petrol price hike and there were no anti-farm bill slogans.
Taking a hint with this we performed a keyword search with the relevant keywords and performing a reverse image search we found the same clip was uploaded on YouTube by several channels stating that a protest was organised by Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar in Hingoli against the fuel prices protesting against the PM Modi.
The same clip can be seen in this report uploaded on February 5, 2021, with the caption when translated reads, "Modi government is a thief sloganeering / Shiv Sena Hingoli district MLA Santosh Bangar on the road"
We then contacted Bangar who confirmed that he is the man in the viral clip shouting slogans and that it was a protest organised by the Shiv Sena against rising fuel prices.
"We (Shiv Sena) had held a protest against the rise in petrol prices by the Modi government on February 5, 2021. That's me in the clip saying "Wah re Modi tera khel, sasti daru mehnga tel (What a game by Modi, cheap alcohol and expensive fuel)"," Bangar told BOOM.
BOOM has previously debunked misinformation around the farmers' protests. Several false claims had gone viral to target the protesting farmers and old photos, videos being shared as recent.
Follow BOOM's thread on misinformation around the farmers' protests.