A video showing a massive crowd waving saffron flags on a road in front of a mosque is viral with a false caption claiming that the rally was a show of strength by Hindus in reciprocation of a stone-pelting incident that took place in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain on December 25, 2020.
BOOM found that the viral video is from Gulbarga, Karnataka and has been on internet since 2019. It shows a Ram Navami shobhayatra (procession).
The video is viral in the backdrop of a recent incident from Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh where a communal clash erupted on December 25, 2020. According to news reports, stones were pelted on a bike rally organised to collect funds for the Ram Temple being constructed in Ayodhya.
The news reports stated that as the rally was passing through Begambagh area of Ujjain, members from Muslim community started throwing stones. A video of the incident has taken social media with storm since then. Heavy police has been deployed in the area since then.
According to news reports, on Saturday Ujjain district authorities demolished one house and partly razed another where some of those accused of pelting stones on the rally lived. A report published in Times Now states that 'authorities have maintained that the demolition was carried out to remove illegal structures after giving due notice to the house owners identified as Tikaram and Hameed'.
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The viral video shows a massive crowd waving saffron flags on the street. As the camera pans across the street, one can see a mosque. A Hindi caption with the viral video translates to 'The scene today in Ujjain where stones were pelted yesterday. This is the strength of Hindus'.
(Hindi: कल जहा पथराव किया गया था उज्जैन मे" ये आज का दृश्य है ये हिन्दूओं की ताकत)
Watch the video below and check its archived version here.
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The video has been shared on several Facebook pages and Twitter with the same claim.
Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search on one of the screenshots from the viral clip and found a longer version uploaded on YouTube on April 13, 2019.
The title of the YouTube video reads 'Ram Navami biggest celebration Gulbarga Shobha Yatra 2019'.
We watched both the videos closely and found them to be one and the same. View below comparisons of screenshots from the original YouTube video and the now-viral clipped video.
While the Facebook video was not clear, BOOM watched the YouTube video closely and found the name of Basavaganga Medical Enterprises on one of the signboards. Taking cue, we searched for the medical shop on Google Maps and found a mosque near it. The lay of land also seems quite similar.
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BOOM then contacted the medical store and sent across the video for verification. One Shivraj at the store confirmed that the video was from Gulbarga.
"This is an old video from Ram Navami celebration here. I am not sure how old it is but it definitely does not show the celebrations from this year as everything was closed down due to the pandemic," Shivraj told BOOM.