A video of several people vandalising posters and plastic furniture in a hall is viral on social media with the claim, “BJP workers vandalised their own party office over not being able to get oxygen cylinders…” The video, posted by Twitter user Shamshad Khan, gained over 1,300 retweets and more than 14,000 views as of this writing.
ऑक्सिजन न मिलने पर भाजपाईयों द्वारा अपनी पार्टी के कार्यलय पर की जमकर तोड़फोड़,
इन्होंने एक दम से हालात बदल दिए,
,शाहब के लोग जाग रहे है? pic.twitter.com/w4qoIKjshd— shamshad khan शमशाद खान (@shamshad__khan) May 1, 2021
Similarly, Twitter handle @kisanItcell1 gathered 600 retweets and over 15,000 views.
जनता अब समझने लगी है!!
ऑक्सिजन न मिलने पर भाजपाईयों द्वारा अपनी पार्टी के कार्यलय पर की जमकर तोड़फोड़, इन्होंने एक दम से हालात बदल दिए,जज़्बात बदल दिए pic.twitter.com/yYOdBTSEjz— Kisan It Cell (@kisanItcell1) April 29, 2021
Dozens of other Twitter users too claimed that BJP workers created ruckus over oxygen cylinders.
The Facebook post below has over 34,000 likes and 16,000 shares. It was posted by state general secretary Youth (Uttar Pradesh) Mohammad Shoeb Azam.
ऑक्सिजन न मिलने पर भाजपाईयों द्वारा अपनी पार्टी के कार्यलय पर की जमकर तोड़फोड़,
ये बदलाव इस देश के लिए बेहद ज़रूरी है।Posted by Mohd shoeb azam on Thursday, April 29, 2021
The post below gained 68,000 views.
ऑक्सिजन न मिलने पर भाजपाईयों द्वारा अपनी पार्टी के कार्यलय पर की जमकर तोड़फोड़ !
आखिर शुरुआत हो ही गई, उतर गई अंध भक्ति?
ऑक्सिजन न मिलने पर भाजपाईयों द्वारा अपनी पार्टी के कार्यलय पर की जमकर तोड़फोड़ !Posted by Baaki Sab Theek Hai on Thursday, April 29, 2021
A screenshot from Facebook shows the extent to which the clip is viral.
False claim
We noticed that a Twitter user pointed out that the video is from West Bengal and related to ticket distribution ahead of the recently-concluded assembly polls.
Taking this as a hint, we searched the keyword ‘পশ্চিমবঙ্গ বিজেপি কর্মীরা দলীয় অফিসের টিকিটের ভিডিও ভাঙচুর করেছেন (Vandalism video of West Bengal BJP workers over tickets)’ on Facebook and found a post by the page Dhuliya Town uploaded on March 21, 2021. The page has uploaded the same video but better quality and according to the caption, the incident took place in Gazole.
India TV had reported the incident on March 19. According to the report, the Bhartiya Janata Party released the list of candidates for the West Bengal assembly elections on March 18. However, many of its own workers put an objection to the names and were upset over their preferred leaders not making it to the list. The state witnessed arson and vandalism at several places where BJP workers were upset.
According to a report by ABP Ananda, BJP leader and district council member from Malda’s Gazole Sagarika Sarkar was also spotted in the viral video. She was later suspended from the party.
The viral video is therefore not related to BJP workers fighting over oxygen cylinder distribution but tickets given ahead of West Bengal polls.
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