An old video of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Anirban Ganguly has resurfaced online falsely claiming that it shows locals hurling slippers at the BJP candidate from West Bengal's Jadavpur constituency before the Lok Sabha elections.
BOOM found that the incident is old. The video dates back to 2021 when Ganguly was attacked in West Bengal's Birbhum district during the state's assembly election.
The 30-second video shows a group of people chasing Ganguly, who can be seen riding in his car under the guard of security personnel. The group then also chase Ganguly's vehicle, shattering its rear window with sticks.
An X user shared the video and wrote, "BJP Lok Sabha candidate Anirban Ganguly, for Jadavpur, West Bengal, got Slipper Treatment from the local people."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM Hindi had debunked the same video in 2022 when it went viral with a similar false claim. We found that the video is from Bolpur in West Bengal and shows an incident from 2021 wherein locals chased and attack BJP leader Anirban Ganguly's convoy, resulting in the vandalism of his car.
We then ran a reverse image search on some of the keyframes from the viral video, which led us to its complete version that was uploaded on Bengali outlet Sangbad Pratidin's official YouTube channel on April 29, 2021. The description with the video report states, "WB Election 2021: BJP candidate from Bolpur Anirban Ganguly's convoy attacked at Ilambazar, Birbhum".
One can see the same visuals starting from the 28-second mark in the Sangbad Pratidin news report.
On April 29, 2021, ABP Ananda published an article reporting complaints of voter intimidation in Ilambazar. According to the report, BJP candidate Anirban Ganguly faced protests while escorting voters to the booth, sparking a clash where stones were hurled. Additionally, the report mentioned that the Trinamool Congress accused the BJP candidate from Bolpur of inciting violence, a claim that the BJP candidate strongly denied.
Furthermore, we found a news bulletin by News 18 Bangla from April 29, 2021, carrying footage of Ganguly being chased by a group and his cars being vandalised. The report stated that the BJP leader's polling agent sought refuge in the vehicle of News 18 Bangla to ensure his safety.
