No, These Are Not Bajrang Dal Members Protesting Against Farm Laws

The video is from Maharashtra, where Shiv Sena workers organised protests against the hike in fuel prices.

Video of a protest organised by Shiv Sena workers is doing the rounds on social media with a claim that it shows Bajrang Dal members raising slogans against PM Modi.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing people carrying saffron flags and raising slogans against the BJP-led NDA government is being shared to claim that they are members of the Bajrang Dal – a youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) – supporting the ongoing farmers’ protest.

However, The Quint found that the said video is from Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, where Shiv Sena workers led by party MLA Santosh Bangur, organised protests against the hike in fuel prices.

CLAIM

The claim along with which the aforementioned video is being shared, reads: “बजरंग दल ने किसान विरोधी काले कृषि कानून के खिलाफ विरोध किया ऒर प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी को चोर बोला अब उनको सच्चाई पता चल गई है यह चौकीदार नही चोर है”

(Translation: Bajrang Dal has come out to protest against the anti-farmer, farm legislations and is calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a thief. Even they know the truth now.)

An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On watching the video carefully, we heard slogans against the recent hike in fuel prices across India. This raised our suspicion over any alleged link of the video with farmers’ protest. To follow up, we fragmented the video into multiple keyframes and ran a reverse image search on one of those frames.

This directed us to the same video uploaded on 5 February by a YouTube channel called ‘Gor Culture’.

According to the description of the video, it is shows protests against fuel price hike organised by Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangur in Hingoli district of Maharashtra.

We found the said video uploaded by another YouTube channel with the same description.

Next, we reached out to Shiv Sena MLA Santosh Bangar who told us that the said video is from a protest organised by him against the fuel price hike by the central government.

“I along with my party workers organised the a protest on 5 February against the rising prices of petrol and diesel across the country. The video in question is from that very protest.”

This report by Outlook dated 5 February, details how Shiv Sena organised similar protests across Maharashtra. Clearly a video from Maharashtra is being falsely shared to claim that the Bajrang Dal is protesting against the farm laws.

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