Unrelated Visuals Viral As Karni Sena's Show Of Support For Kangana Ranaut

Old unrelated images from different states including one from Gujarat and a video from Jammu showing a convoy of cars are being shared with the false claim that it shows members of Hindu fringe group Karni Sena traveling travelling to Mumbai in thousands of cars to support actress Kangana Ranaut. BOOM found that the images and videos date back to at least 2016 and have nothing to do with the Karni Sena's support of Ranaut.

The claim that the Karni Sena has traveled to Mumbai to support Ranaut has become viral on the back of Ranaut's ongoing clash with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Police for it's alleged inaction into Sushant Singh Rajput's death.

Ranaut had come under fire for saying that Mumbai feels like Pakistan occupied Kashmir. In response, Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik allegedly threatened that Ranaut would be beaten by supporters when she reaches Mumbai airport. In an article in the party mouthpiece Saamna, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut asked her not to come back to Mumbai if she feels unsafe.

After Ranaut announced that she would return to Mumbai from Himachal Pradesh on September 9, the Karni Sena and the RPI both said they would come to Mumbai to support the actress and escort her safely.

The old photos are being shared with a Hindi caption which translates to, "For Kangana Ranaut's honour, the Karni Sena has departed for Maharashtra with 1000s of cars. Now witness our might."

(Original text in Hindi: कंगना राणावत के सम्मान में, 1000 गाड़ियों के साथ करणी सेना महाराष्ट्र रवाना। जय भवानी जय राजपूताना। अब देखो हमारी ताकत।)

Posts feature four images showing a convoy of cars claiming to be the Karni Sena travelling to Mumbai.

Another Facebook post features a video of a rally being taken with people sitting on top of cars and chanting.

The archive of the post can be accessed here.

The archive of the tweet can be accessed here.

FACT CHECK

BOOM found that all the photos being shared are old and from different states and not related to any Karni Sena event. We further found that the video in the viral posts is in fact from Jammu and a political rally held by a local party.

Picture 1

A reverse image search on Yandex and found a similar image as the thumbnail of a YouTube video of a demonstration held by a Congress leader Manvendra Singh in Barmer, Rajasthan.

Using the information in the YouTube video as a cue, we searched through photos posted by the Facebook pages run by Manvendra Singh and the Barmer Congress and found the same photo posted by the Barmer Congress page on March 22, 2016.

The caption of the photo reads: Carcade of #RPCC Chief Shri Sachin Pilot & #AICC Secretary Shri Harish Choudhary" from when Pilot was the chief of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. Pilot is currently the deputy chief minister of Rajasthan.

The archive of the post can be acessed here.

PICTURE 2

After reverse searching for the image on Google, BOOM found that the image has existed online since at least March 1, 2017. We found a tweet from 2017 that said the image shows a convoy of cars taken out by a groom who went to receive his to be bride in this way. 

The tweet from March 1,2017 said the photo is from Tharad, in Banaskantha district of Gujarat when a groom arrived in 30 'Scorpios' the SUV seen in the photo to the bride's hometown where his wedding was to be held.

The archive of the tweet can be accessed here. 

We also found a story in Divya Bhaskar which matched the same information as in the tweet. The article while not carrying a photo also speaks about a groom who arranged 30 vehicles for him and his family for the wedding.

PICTURE 3

BOOM reverse searched for the image on Yandex and videos which featured the same image in the thumbnail with the description saying it shows Raj Shekhawat, the chief of the Gujarat unit of Karni Sena.

We then looked through Karni Sena's Facebook page and found a cropped version of the same image uploaded on 22 December, 2019.

The archive of the post can be accessed here.

The caption in Hindi says that a mega rally to be held by Karni Sena leader Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi has begun. The photo's location is tagged as Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

THE VIRAL VIDEO

Some of the Facebook posts also carried a video claiming that it shows Karni Sena members on their way to Mumbai to support Ranaut. We found that this video is old and in fact from Jammu and not related to the Karni Sena.

BOOM analysed the video and found the words 'Yuva Rajput' written on the bonnet of a car and the words 'Jammu and Kashmir Party' written in Hindi on the bus stop visible in the video.

We also heard the slogan 'Jai Rajputana' being chanted by the crowd and taking hints from the same, ran a search for the keywords "YUVA Jammu and Kashmir Rajput" and found multiple news and video reports of a group called Yuva Rajput Sabha from Jammu.

The group, regularly holds rallies and events in Jammu and each year on King Hari Singh's birth anniversary takes out a procession.

BOOM contacted Narayan Singh, the former president of the Yuva Rajput Sabha who confirmed that the video was shot at one of their rallies. Singh confirmed that the video was from Jammu but could not verify the exact year when it was shot. He said, "This is an old video. It looks like it from a rally held a year or two years ago."