As the 2019 general election ends today; Fact Crescendo has compiled a list of the most prominent instances of misinformation this election season. The pedlars of misinformation, who resorted to social media to sway the electorate ahead of voting, used every trick possibly available in the digital era misleading the readers.
This article comprises of photo-shopped images used for Politicizing Violence-
- TMC worker caught stone pelting at the Vidyasagar College in West-Bengal
Claim – A video of a TMC worker caught while stone pelting at the Vidyasagar statue in west Bengal is circulating on social media.
Fact Check– The circulating video dates back to 12 may 2019 from Jamshedpur. During the riots, the police arrested the man in the orange T-shirt. This video is being shared with the wrong reference to the West-Bengal incidence of Vidyasagar Statue damage.
2) A Muslim group is scaring off the Hindus in West-Bengal
Claim- A video going viral shows that a group of Muslims are scaring and chasing out the Hindus and this video claimed to be from West-Bengal.
Fact Check– The circulating video dates back to 1 December 2018 from Bangladesh. This video was shot during the rifts between two groups and has no co-relation with West-Bengal.
3) A person treated inhumanely because he waved the saffron flag in West-Bengal.
Claim- A video going viral shows that a man is beaten brutally and claiming that this is from West-Bengal. This is what happens when anyone waves the Saffron flag in West-Bengal.
Fact Check– The circulating video dates back to 30 March 2018 from Uttar Pradesh. When miscreants tied a youth to a tree & thrashed him after he asked them for the money lent by him at Devariya in Uttar Pradesh.
4) The National Flag of India burned by Muslims during a protest against Narendra Modi
Claim- An image showing the Indian Flag put on fire by Muslim Protestors, who were protesting against Modi.
Fact Check– The circulating photo dates back to 11 June 2015 from a place called Multan in Pakistan. The protest took place when the Prime Minister of India commented about the role if Indian Air Force, which offended the Pakistanis.
When miscreants tied a youth to a tree & thrashed him after he asked them for the money lent by him at Devariya in Uttar Pradesh.
5) Anil Upadhyay from BJP beating a Dalit class boy
Claim- A video went viral, in which a man shown beating a boy. The video claimed that a BJP Anil Upadhyay is beating a Dalit boy for owning an expensive car.
Fact Check– This video dates back to 4 April 2017 in Gandhinagar, at Gujrat. The man in video is the father-in-law of the victim. This boy allegedly did domestic violence on his wife for which the girl’s father got angry and started beating the boy
6) Rohingya and Bangladeshi Refugees abusing the BJP workers in West-Bengal.
Claim- A video is going viral which shows that a group of BJP workers is riding though a crowd and the crowd is abusing and mistreating them. The locals misbehaving are claimed to be Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees in West-Bengal. The claim further says that if the BJP wins the 2019 loksabha elections, then this is how the entire world will be treated.
Fact Check– The video is from Surat in Gujarat and dates back to 8 December 2017. This video is circulated with a wrong narrative to provoke or intimidate viewers.
7) The workers of Hindu Yuva Vahini Bajrang Dal behaved so inhumanly with the Christian clergy
Claim- In the viral image of a man sitting on a donkey with a half shaved head, claiming that he is a Christian pastor and is tortured by the Hindu Yuva Vahini Bajrang Dal in Uttar Pradesh.
Fact Check– This image dates back to 31 January 2016 at Jalaun in Uttar Pradesh. The Hindu Yuva Vahini Bajrang Dal did shave this man’s head and made him ride on a donkey for 4 hours; however, the man is not a Christian pastor. Allegedly, he converted three Hindu people in Christianity and thus the people of the village did this as a form of punishment.
8) The women in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh welcomed the BJP MLA with shoes.
Claim- A video showing that the women in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh welcomed the BJP MLA by beating him shoes.
Fact Check– This video dates back to 1 October 2018 from Himachal Pradesh. A female conductor slapped the State President of Transport Labour Union Shankar Singh Thakur.
9) BJP Anil Upadhyay manipulated the Polling Station in Maharashtra.
Claim- A video showing that the BJP leader Anil Upadhyay manipulated the Polling Station in Maharashtra.
Fact Check– Originally this video is of a TMC Leader Mohammad Saleem in Islampur and not of Anil Upadhyay from Maharashtra.
10) BJP Activists arrested for promoting ISIS
Claim- BJP workers planted ISIS flag in Assam and asked people to join ISIS.
Fact Check– A few web portals republished an old news story in which a few BJP workers were arrested for questioning in relation with discovery of ISIS flag in Koihati village in Assam’s Nalbari district. The news articles claimed that the incident had re-occurred. However, there was no re-occurrence of any such incident.
