A 21-second clip showing several people throwing chairs at one another in what appears to be a large conference hall is viral on social media. Users have shared the clip claiming that it is from a BJP meeting in Tamil Nadu.
Congress MLA from Vadgam, Gujarat, Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) shared the viral video on X (formerly Twitter) with a caption in Hindi which said, “I don’t know about crossing 400, but there definitely seem to be around 400 chairs jumping in the BJP meeting.” He later deleted the tweet.
Arun Reddy, who is the Congress national coordinator for social media, posted the above-mentioned clip on X on April 8 stating: “Not sure about 400 seats.. but definitely 400 chairs were thrown at each other during a BJP meeting in Tamil Nadu.” The tweet has received over 37,000 views and has been retweeted over 500 times. (Archive)
Not sure about 400 seats.. but definitely 400 chairs were thrown at each other during a BJP meeting in Tamil Nadu. pic.twitter.com/3ChNVRCMi2
— Spirit of Congress✋ (@SpiritOfCongres) April 8, 2024
A premium subscribed X user, Zakir Ali Tyagi (@ZakirAliTyagi), who, according to his bio is a journalist, also shared the viral video on April 8 with a caption that stated, “The BJP, which claims to win 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, is currently conducting an examination of 400 chairs…” (Archive)
लोकसभा चुनाव में 400 सीटें लाने का दावा करने वाली BJP 400 कुर्सियों का इंतेज़ाम कर रही है इसलिए कोई ये ना कहे कि “बीजेपी के प्रोग्राम में BJP कार्यकर्ताओं में हुई हाथापाई चली कुर्सियां!” pic.twitter.com/ML10a8JSu9
— Zakir Ali Tyagi (@ZakirAliTyagi) April 8, 2024
Several other users shared the viral video with the same claim.
Fact Check
On watching the video closely, we noticed a banner carrying “News18” logos at the 12-second mark.
We broke down the video into several key frames and ran a reverse image search on a few of them. This led us to a tweet by the official handle of BJP Kanchipuram (@bjp4kanchi) which contained the same viral clip. The caption in Tamil could be translated as, “On 6.4.24, at the solo debate event held in Kanchi, BJP state secretary @SuryahSG continued to give fitting replies to the false accusations of DMK. Kanchi MLA Ehilarasan was unable to answer the question of what DMK had done to Kanchipuram constituency.”
The handle added another tweet to the thread stating, “DMK members were at a loss on how to answer, and to deal with it, DMK members immediately started talking to the BJP executives and then started attacking the BJP members with their troops.”
திமுகவினர் பதில் சொல்ல திணறி போனார்கள் அதை சமாளிக்க உடனே திமுகவினர் பாஜக நிர்வாகிகளை ஒருமையில் பேச ஆரம்பித்தனர் பிறகு சேர்கள் கொண்டு பாஜகவினர் மீது தாக்குதலில் ஈடுபட்டனர்.
— BJP Kanchipuram Official (@bjp4kanchi) April 6, 2024
We also came across a news report by The Commune that said that News18 Tamil Nadu had organized a live event called “Makkah Sabha” on April 6 at Uma Murugan Mahal, Kanchipuram. The committee included representatives of various political parties, including sitting MLAs who presented their views and criticisms of the ruling party and opposition parties in Tamil Nadu.
DMK leader and MLA Ehilarasan, BJP leader Dr SG Surya, CPI(M) leader K Balabharathi, Kalyana Sundaram from AIADMK, Basha from DMK and Kalanjiyam from NTK were among the invitees. The program was hosted by New18 Tamil Nadu senior anchor Balavel Chakravarthi.
The report further mentioned that at the event a heated debate between the BJP and the DMK representatives irked the supporters of the parties present in the audience and a physical fight erupted.
Taking a cue from the above we ran a relevant keyword search and found a video on News18 Tamil Nadu’s channel posted on April 6. The title of the video said, “‘All parties are against us. When we say Tamil Nadu BJP, there is unity.’ – Kalanjiyam”. In the description section of the video the hashtag “Makkal Sabai” has been carried and Balavel Chakravarthi could be seen hosting the event. The persons mentioned in The Commune report could be seen sitting on the dais of the event.
Below is a comparison between a frame from the viral video and one from the above video.
Hence, from the above findings, it can be concluded that contrary to viral claims, the video of the scuffle was not from a BJP meeting in Tamil Nadu. The clash broke out among the audience at a debate hosted by News18 Tamil Nadu in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, where representatives from ruling and opposition political parties were invited.
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