An old video of a state-wide protest by Shiv Sena against the fuel price hike in Maharashtra is being shared as a recent protest in Karnataka during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the state.
BOOM found that the video is from Hingoli, Maharashtra in February 2021, when Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar staged a bullock-cart protest against the Modi government.
Ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka in May this year, PM Modi visited the state and spoke about several development projects, including a four-lane Mysuru–Kushalnagar highway and inaugurating the 10-lane Bengaluru–Mysuru expressway.
The video of the protest is circulating in the backdrop of this visit by Modi to the state. It shows a group of protestors holding orange flags and chanting slogans against PM Modi while some leaders are perched on top of a bullock cart.
The caption reads, "Hey Raam..! It seems that Hindus have really woken up now. 😁 #KarnatakaElection2023 #40PercentSarkara"
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from 2021 when Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar led a protest in Hingoli, Maharashtra as part of the party's state-wide protest against the rising fuel prices.
A reverse image search of snapshots from the viral video on Yandex led us to a tweet uploaded on February 17, 2021. The caption of the video read, "Now the eyes of the blind devotees are open when the whole country has been looted @LambaAlka"
This video is slightly longer than the viral video, and one frame, at the 0:23 mark, shows protestors holding a poster with photos of Shiv Sena leaders Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, and the late Balasaheb Thackeray. This and the fact that the slogans were in Hindi and not Kannada, gave us a hint that the video might be from Maharashtra, not Karnataka.
Taking a cue from this, we searched for videos from February 2021 that showed protests by the Shiv Sena and came across several photos and videos that were from the party's protest held on February 5 against rising fuel prices.
Using a combination of keywords such as "शिवसेना पेट्रोल दरवाढीचा बैलगाडी आंदोलन february 2021," we searched for videos from this specific protest and found a video uploaded by Lokpradhan News on YouTube on February 5. The visuals in the video titled, "हिंगोलीत पेट्रोलदरवाढीच्या निषेधार्थ शिवसेनेचा भव्य बैलगाडी मोर्चा," matched our viral video.
Here is a comparison:
According to Sakal, the protest held in Hingoli led by Bangar demanded a reduction in fuel prices. The procession began from the Shiv Sena office via Indira Nagar where people marched with bullock carts, flags, and placards to make their demands.
In February 2021, fuel prices across India were witnessing a record high, caused both by a rise in the price of crude oil globally and an increase in excise duty and VAT by the centre. In Rajasthan and Maharashtra, the price of petrol crossed the Rs 100 mark in the month of February 2021.