2017 Gujarat video viral as “Rohingyas and Bangladeshi mistreat BJP workers in Bengal”

A video viral on social media is being circulated with the claim that it depicts “Rohingyas and Bangladeshi refugees” mistreating BJP workers when they passed their settlements in West Bengal. “If you don’t vote for the BJP, this will happen in the entire country very soon,” reads a warning shared along with the clip.

The video has been massively circulated by individual users on Facebook.“2019 के लोकसभा चुनाव में अगर भारतीय जनता पार्टी का समर्थन नहीं दिया तो यह घटना पूरे भारत में जल्दी देखने को मिलेगा पश्चिम बंगाल मे रोहिंग्या और बांग्लादेशी रिफ्यूजी के बस्तियों से जब भाजपा कार्यकर्ता गुजर रहे थे तब वहां के रहने वाले रोहिंग्या मुसलमान और बांग्लादेशी उनके साथ ऐसा सलूक कर रहे थे (If BJP is not re-elected in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, this will happen in the entire country very soon. BJP workers were manhandled in West Bengal when they passed Rohingya and Bangladeshi settlements.),” is the caption used to share the video.

It has also been circulated on Twitter.

2019के लोकसभा चुनाव में भारतीय जनता पार्टी का समर्थन नहीं दिया तो यह घटना पूरे भारत में जल्दी देखने को मिलेगा पश्चिम बंगाल मे रोहिंग्या और बांग्लादेशी रिफ्यूजी के बस्तियों से भाजपा कार्यकर्ता गुजर रहे थे तब वहां के रहने वाले रोहिंग्या मुसलमान और बांग्लादेशी ऐसा सलूक कर रहे थे pic.twitter.com/qOFO6Igy55

— अंशुमान सिंह (मै भी चौकीदार हूं) (@Anshuma88368052) April 23, 2019

2017 video from Gujarat

In the background, some people can be heard talking but the language they speak isn’t Bengali. We found that several people had commented that the video depicts an incident which took place two years ago in Surat. A few others also said that the language spoken in the clip was Kathyawadi, the dialect of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

Upon searching the keywords “BJP rally Surat”, we were directed to YouTube link of ABP News from December 7, 2017, which carried the same video. According to ABP News, BJP workers were manhandled and their caps were flung in the air before prime minister Modi’s rally. Gujarat underwent assembly elections in 2017.

The video was initially uploaded by Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani.

दोस्तों गुजरात का ये वीडियो जरूर देखिये, जनता बीजेपी से इतनी परेशान हो गयी है कि बीजेपी को वोट देना तो साइड में रह जाएगा, जनता बीजेपी कार्यकर्ता के टोपी और स्कार्फ तक निकाल देते है, अगर बीजेपी ने विकास ही किया होता तो उनके कार्यकर्ता का ऐसा स्वागत ना होता। pic.twitter.com/789ptA1O7Y

— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) December 8, 2017

An incident from Gujarat was falsely circulated on social media as a case of Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees mistreating BJP workers in Bengal in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Recently, we had debunked a video from Bihar, which was viral as a BJP worker attacked in West Bengal.