A video of a group of Samajwadi Party supporters chanting slogans to vote for the party in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election is being shared by several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders claiming SP supporters raised pro-Pakistan slogans in Bithoor constituency in Kanpur.
BOOM spoke to Kanpur District Magistrate / District election officer Neha Sharma who denied that 'Pakistan Banana Hai' slogan was raised at a Samajwadi Party candidate's rally. Sharma said that an investigation by the Bithoor's Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) revealed that the slogans were being misinterpreted and the workers were actually chanting the slogan 'Maati Chor Bhagana Hai' (Chase away the soil robber) in the video.
We further found a longer version of the video where the slogan 'Matti Chor Bhagana Hai' can be heard clearly.
The assembly election is going to be held in Uttar Pradesh in seven phases from February 10, 2022, till March 7, 2022, with the results to be declared on March 10, 2022.
The 14 seconds video was tweeted by BJP Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Prashant Umrao with the caption, "Press the button on the cycle, make Pakistan. Supporters of Samajwadi Party are raising this slogan in Bithoor, Kanpur."
BOOM has previously debunked misinformation tweeted by Umrao.
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The same video was also tweeted by media outlet NBT Uttar Pradesh claiming that could not verify the video, and by several other BJP leaders including BJP Bithoor MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga, and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra who later deleted his tweet. Other media outlets including Times Of India, Aaj Tak, and right-leaning site OpIndia also published a report on the viral video.
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(In English - Supporters of SP candidate Munindra Shukla from Bithoor assembly allegedly raised slogans in support of Pakistan - press the cycle button, Pakistan banana hai... Incident during public relations in Bithoor assembly Tikra area. Video viral on social media. NBT does not confirm this)
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(In English - The slogan of making Pakistan by SP leader Munindra Shukla and his supporters in village Tikra of Bithur is highly condemnable. The public is listening to everything..the public will not forgive..this is an insult to Bithoor..they will have to answer for this..)
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FACT-CHECK
On searching with the relevant keywords we found a denial put out by Bithoor Samajwadi Party candidate Munindra Shukla, who released a statement saying that the video is misleading and denied any pro-Pakistan slogans were raised by any Samajwadi Party workers at the rally in Tikra area, Bithoor, Kanpur.
We also found a longer 43 seconds video shared by a Munindra Shukla supporters page on Facebook on February 4, 2022, with Hindi subtitles to the video.
In the video from the 26 seconds timestamp we can hear the slogan 'Mati Chor Bhagana Hai'. The SP supporters can be heard chanting, "...Mohar maaro taan ke, cycle ko pehchan ke. Maati chor bhagana hai..." (Press on the cycle symbol, chase away the soil robber)
The video was shared with the caption, "Here is the original video, please be careful and stay away from people spreading lies, long live Mother India, Vande Matram, Jai Jai Shree Munindra".
The reference to 'Matti Chor' slogan by SP supporters is to BJP Bithoor MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga making allegations of illegal sand mining against him.
The Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) of Bithoor constituency also issued a clarification stating that they have looked into the complaint and their investigation concluded that no 'Pakistan' slogans were found in the video.
Slogans being misinterpreted, 'Maati Chor' was chanted: Kanpur DM
BOOM then contacted Kanpur District Magistrate / District election officer Neha Sharma who denied that any pro-Pakistan slogans were raised referring to the investigation by the ARO of Bithoor.
"This video is from Bithoor, I had sent it to check yesterday, and the concerned ARO stated that the slogans are being misinterpreted and in the investigation, it was found they are chanting 'Matti Chor' on which we have also issued a clarification," Sharma told BOOM
We also reached out to Kanpur Police Media Cell who stated that a police investigation has been launched to ascertain the authenticity of the video.
Kanpur Police had also replied to BJP leader Umrao's tweet on February 4, 2022 stating, "Information is being collected regarding the location and persons in the video received in the case, on confirmation, prompt legal action will be taken."