A screen grab of a news bulletin featuring Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal climbing down a makeshift staircase has resurfaced on social media with claims that he was photographed during escaping his house, after anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill protests broke out in Assam.
The screen grab is from May, 2019, when Sonowal and Assam education minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya were on a trip to inspect a water project in the state.
In the image, Sonowal can be seen trying to climb down a ladder from a rooftop, as his aides look on. The image is viral in the wake of the mass protests that were held in Assam against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). The bill will have provisions of granting Indian citizenship to minorities from six communities from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Sonowal's image has been captioned as, "Did you recognise the person who is escaping from his house? Hint: He is the chief minister of a BJP ruled state."
(Original text in Hindi: अपने ही घर के पिछवाड़े से भागते इस व्यक्ति को पहचानते हैं..? हिंट : एक भाजपा शासित राज्य के मुख्यमंत्री हैं। बूझो तो मानु ?)
The photograph is viral on multiple Malyalam Facebook pages with a similar claim. They have been captioned as, "Following the mass protest, security officials of Assam CM is trying to rescue him through the roof top of CM's home.. This will happen to Modi and Amit in near future."
(Original text in Malyalam: 'ജനങ്ങളുടെ പ്രക്ഷോഭം കാരണം, ആസാമിലെ വീട്ടിൽ നിന്നും സംസ്ഥാന മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയെ സെക്യൂരിറ്റിക്കാർ വീടിന്റെ മുകൾവശം വഴി രക്ഷിച്ചുകൊണ്ടുപോകുന്നതാണ് കാണുന്നത്....ഈ ഗതി മോഡിക്കും അമിട്ടിനും ഉടൻ ഉണ്ടാകാനാണ് സാധ്യത').
Fact Check
BOOM found that the image is a screen grab of a bulletin about Sonowal's inspection of a state water project, that was broadcast in Prag News, an Assamese news channel. On relevant keyword search, we were directed to the same video from Prag News, that documented Sonowal climbing down the makeshift stair case, with minimal help from his aides.
The bulletin, titled as "Assam has never seen such CM - Siddhartha Bhattacharya", was uploaded to YouTube on May 1, 2019.
The 1 minute 36 second video shows Sonowal, and Education minister of Assam, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, engaging in a light conversation while on a trip to inspect a drinking water project. The screen grab has been captured from the 29 second mark of the video, where Sonowal can be seen trying to come down of the rooftop.
The bulletin reports about how Sonowal showed utmost dedication in inspecting projects which were underway in the state. Furthermore, Sonowal's efforts were also praised by Bhattacharya in the video, when he saw the CM climb down the stairs with minimum help.
Report about Sonowal taking stock of the progress of the construction work of the Greater Guwahati Water Supply Project in May can be read here.