Republic Bharat misreported a video of a man praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by identifying him as 'Congress MLA Anil Upadhyay.'
BOOM found that the man in the video is Mohan Chandra Pandey who told us that he is not connected to any political party and is only a "Modi fan".
On April 26, 2019 Republic Bharat, the Hindi news channel owned by Republic TV, aired a story on their Hello Bharat program titled, "कांग्रेस के विधायक अनिल उपाध्याय भी हुए पीएम मोदी के मुरीद, बंधे तारीफों के पूल (English translation -Congress MLA Anil Upadhyay is also a huge fan of Modi)
In the news program, the anchors showed a man heaping praises on Modi and saying "only those who are corrupt want Modi to lose". Republic Bharat anchors claimed the man in the video was Anil Upadhyay, a Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh. They further said the Modi was being praised not only by the ordinary men and women of the country but even by his opponents.
The Republic Bharat show which misreported the man praising Narendra Modi as a Congress MLA
Click here for the archived link of the post.
In the video aired by Republic Bharat, a man wearing a black vest and a white shirt is speaking animatedly about Modi. The man is heard lavishly praising Modi and also saying that only the corrupt don't want him to come back to power.
The same video was being shared on Facebook with a caption which claimed that he was Anil Upadhyay, a Congress MLA.
Interestingly, in the past other videos of the same man debating with people about Modi, praising him and slamming the prime minister's critics have gone viral on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. In the past, the same man has been called 'DCP Vikram Singh of Delhi' and in other posts, Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot's father-in-law.
Facebook page 'Presstitutes' uploaded a video of the same person with a caption calling him, "Ex DCP Crime, Delhi Police"
FACT-CHECK
News website Quint spoke to digital media strategist Tanmay Shankar who had shared the same video identifying the man as Mohan alias Munna Pandey.
BOOM looked through Facebook and Twitter and found a profile with the name Mohan Chandra Pandey, with pictures matching the person in the viral videos.
Pandey had also posted the same video on his Facebook account on April 10 with the caption, "मोदी से खौफ किसको और क्यो ?????? सुनोगे तो मोदी मोदी करोगे ।जी हा"
BOOM found that Pandey had also tweeted to Republic on April 26, a few hours after the show was aired telling them that it was him in the video they aired.
Alt News had also reported Republic Bharat misreporting the video.
BOOM also reached out to Pandey who confirmed that it was indeed him in the video.
"I am just a supporter and fan of Modi. I don't have a membership with any political nor am I with Congress. Republic Bharat should apologise to me,"said Pandey.
He added, "Many of my videos have gone viral in the past with people claiming I am a police officer from Delhi, politician Sachin Pilot's father-in-law and some have been called me a Pakistani citizen praising Modi! I would like to clarify that I am just a common man named Mohan Chandra Pandey who works with a company as a zonal sales manager and these videos are mine where I am showing my support for Modi."
BOOM has reached out to Republic Bharat for a comment and the story will be updated once we receive a reply.