No, 'Pakistan Zindabad' Slogans Were Not Raised at SP Leader's Poll Campaign

We slowed down the video and could hear SP's Munindra Shukla's supporters saying 'maati chor bhagana hai'.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video which shows a group raising slogans urging people to vote for the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the upcoming Assembly elections is being shared to claim that the party's Bithoor candidate Munindra Shukla's supporters raised 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans during a door-to-door campaign.

A video of the incident was massively shared on social media by several leaders including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra, Bithoor MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga and several news organisations.

However, we found out that the slogans were raised were against the sitting MLA, Sanga, and not in favour of Pakistan. We got in touch with Shukla who shared the original video with us and on slowing it down, we could hear 'Maati chor bhagana hai' (have to chase away the one who has betrayed their soil).

Further, even in the investigation by the authorities it was found that no pro-Pakistan slogans were raised.

CLAIM

Sharing the video, sitting MLA Sanga wrote that the incident was shameful and added that all the people raising pro-Pakistan slogans should be prosecuted for treason.

An archived version can be viewed here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra levelled a similar allegation and shared the video on his official Twitter handle, and it garnered over 58,000 views until it was deleted. (An archived version can be viewed here)

Several news organisations including Aaj Tak, Asianet News, NBT Uttar Pradesh, The Times of India published a report on it. Right wing organisation, OpIndia, also shared the story.

Other archives can be viewed here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

As the tweets and stories mentioned that the incident happened during the election campaign of SP leader Munindra Shukla, we reached out to him to get a clearer version of the video.

He shared a longer version of the video with us and on slowing down the audio we could hear the slogan, "Mohar maaro taan ke, cycle ko pehchan ke. Maati chor bhagana hai". (The video can be accessed here.)

Speaking to The Quint, Shukla levelled allegations against the BJP candidate and added that people refer to him as 'Maati chor'.

"The slogans were raised with reference to the BJP candidate who is involved in illegal sand mining and not Pakistan. The video has been presented in a wrong context," he added.

He had also posted a clarification on his Facebook page stating the same and shared a copy of his complaint letter to the police.

Further, Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), Bithoor, too, issued a clarification stating that they have looked into the complaint and have concluded that 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans weren't raised.

We also looked for the context of the slogans and found various news reports on illegal sand mining in the area, but these were on Sanga's complaint.

However, it is evident that the video has been shared with a false context and no Pakistan Zindabad slogans were raised.

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