Did Wayanad Celebrate Rahul Gandhi’s Win With Pakistani Flags?
Neither are these flags from Pakistan – they are of the Indian Union Muslim League – nor is the video from Wayanad.
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CLAIM
A video, shared by one Vikas Pandey on Twitter, shows a group of people waving green flags and shouting 'Rahul Gandhi Zindabad'.
The video has been shared with the message, “No, this is not in Pakistan, this is celebrations in Wayanad after @RahulGandhi winning the seat. Congress has to DIE!”
An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.
The same video has also been shared several times on Facebook with a similar claim, "Wayanad after election result. Where Rahul Gandhi won. Every Hindu must watch."
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim is false on two counts. For starters, these are neither Pakistan flags nor Islamic flags, but flags of the Indian Union Muslim League, which is in alliance with the Congress in Kerala. And secondly, the video is not from Wayanad as claimed, but from Kasaragod in Kerala.
HOW WE FOUND OUT
The flags seen in the video are are not Islamic flags, nor are they Pakistani flags. They belong to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a state political party in Kerala.
A side-by-side comparison of the flags makes this clear beyond doubt.
NOT WAYANAD BUT KASARGOD
A reverse image of multiple keyframes from the video using the InVid extension led to the following video, which was uploaded on Youtube on 23 April, indicating that it is from before Rahul Gandhi's victory.
The video was captioned, "IUML kalashakott at malappuram (IUML’s grand finale at Malaappuram)", thus indicating that the video was not from Wayanad as claimed.
Further, chants in support of Ramesh Unnithan were also heard in the video. Unnithan was the Congress' candidate from the Kasaragod constituency.
The Quint got in touch with MC Khamaruddin, the general secretary of the IUML from Kasaragod, who confirmed the video was indeed from the constituency, and not from Wayanad or Malappuram as was captioned on YouTube. The video was supposedly shot during one of Unnithan's many campaigns in the constituency.
Thus, this video is not in celebration of Gandhi's victory in Wayanad, and nor are the flags Islamic or Pakistani, as claimed.
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