Lighthouse Journalism found a video being shared on social media platforms. The video claimed to show an election campaign in Maharashtra. In the 2 minute 20 seconds video, people were seen raising slogans and chanting Jai Sri Ram with saffron flags, people in the balcony of buildings were also seen clapping and chanting. During the investigation we found that the video is from Kanpur and from 2022 and not recent.
Claim:
X user Aniruddha Joshi shared the viral video on his profile.
Other users too are sharing the video with similar claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by uploading the video in the InVid tool and ran a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the same.
We found the same video uploaded on Facebook page of Indra veer singh “santosh” on 15th February 2022, hinting that the video is old and not recent.
We also found a Facebook post by सनातनी अभिषेक सिंह चौहान on 12th February 2022.
The post mentioned that the activity was conducted as a part of prabhat feri (a morning rally) of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Gautam Nagar of Kalyanpur, Kanha Shyam Apartment, Divinity Home Apartments, Gulmohar Apartments, Imperial Heights and Indira Nagar. The rally concluded on GT Road in front of Kalyanpur station.
We also found a Facebook video posted by Vishwa Hindu Parishad Bajang Dal on 15th February 2022, that mentioned that the video was from Kanpur West.
Upon running a Google keyword search we found that the areas mentioned in the post are in Kanpur.
At the end of the video, people appeal using a slogan ‘voting must, nation first’ and appeal to vote on the 20th.
Through Google keyword search we found that Kanpur, which had 10 assembly seats, voted on February 20 in 2022.
Conclusion: A 2022 video from Kanpur of a morning rally is being shared with claims of it being from Maharashtra. Viral claim is misleading.
