Congress Workers Misleadingly Blamed for Vandalism of Solar Panels

The video was of an incident at a solar plant in Maharastra, with workers protesting against non-payment of wages.

(Photo: Facebook screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

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“#अनपढ़_जाहिल_कांग्रेसी लोग मोदी सरकार के करोड़ों के प्रोजेक्ट को नुक्सान पंहुचाते हुए…. फिर कहेंगे कि कहां है विकास….? हमें तो बिजली मिलती ही नहीं….! #आतंकवादी_कांग्रेस के बहकावे में लोग अपना भला–बुरा भी भूल चुके हैं” (Illiterate uncouth Congressis are damaging project worth crores by the Modi Government… Then they say where is development? We don’t get electricity... These people who are enticed by terrorist Congress have forgotten their own good or bad)

A video has resurfaced on social media with the aforementioned message. In the video, a group of people can be seen vandalising solar panels.

According to the message, these people are affiliated to the Congress party and are vandalising a solar power project launched by the Narendra Modi government.

A Facebook page, I Support Narendra Bhai Modi BJP, had shared the video, which has garnered close to 2,900 shares and over 63,000 views so far.

It has also been shared by several individuals on Facebook. A Facebook user, Bhavsinh Mori, had also posted the same video three months ago with an identical narrative, which was shared more than 22,000 times and viewed in excess of 6,67,000 times. In his Facebook profile, Mori claims to be a “Youth worker at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”.

Circulated With Multiple Narratives

In the month of February, the same video was shared with the claim that it was a handiwork of the Opposition against the ruling BJP, blaming youth leaders like Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani for vandalising the solar panels.

The narratives ascribed to the video are not limited to India. It has also been shared as a video of workers destroying Chinese-built solar panels in Senegal.

Debunked Six Months Ago

Alt News had earlier fact-checked the same video. In March 2018, a Pakistani TV channel had claimed that a BJP MP Ashok Saxena had said that the use of solar energy will anger the Sun God, following which people vandalised solar panels.

This video was shared with this claim by the official Facebook group of Aam Aadmi Party. It may be noted that there is no such BJP MP named Ashok Saxena in the 16th Lok Sabha elected in 2014.

As it turned out, the video was of an incident which took place in February 2018 at a solar plant in Chalisgaon, Maharastra.

According to a report published by Climate Samurai, which reports on environmental issues, the people seen in the video are workers destroying solar panels to protest against the non-payment of wages. Alt News had also spoken to Climate Samurai to confirm the same.

It is observed that such videos resurface on social media time and again with different narratives furthering political biases.

Users are encouraged to cross-check images and videos, which they may come across on social media, with different sources on the internet. In this instance, a basic Google search would have revealed the truth.

(This was first published on Alt News and has been republished with permission.)