A video of the Karnataka state football team is viral with the claim that they were made to wait on a pavement outside the chief minister’s house after ‘recently’ winning the Santosh Trophy.
User @Somashekar2054, whose bio describes him as ‘Advocate, BJP karyakartha’, tweeted the video and wrote, “Karnataka State Football Team recently won Santosh Trophy in Saudi Arabia & *this is how these players were treated by the CM”. The viral clip also consists of a running commentary by a man who claims that the players were made to wait outside with the Santosh Trophy and the CM came after three hours. (Archive)
Karnataka State Football Team recently won Santosh Trophy in Saudi Arabia & *this is how these players were treated by the CM* 😡 pic.twitter.com/FH28NFRyPc
— Somashekar keshavmurthy (@Somashekar2054) June 11, 2023
It must be noted that the present chief minister of Karnataka, Congress’s Siddaramaiah, took oath on May 20 after the Congress defeated the BJP in the assembly elections. Hence, the claim inherently criticizes Siddaramaiah for his alleged treatment of the players.
User @MithilaWaala, who shares misinformation on a regular basis, also tweeted the clip with the same claim. Additionally, he wrote, “The same CM who is always ready to stand on his toes and bow to Pappu Priyanka and Sonia”. he later deleted the tweet. (Archive)
Several others also tweeted the viral clip with the same caption.
The clip is also being circulated on Facebook with the same claim.
Fact Check
Santosh Trophy is the state-level national football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the sport’s governing body in the country. We found that this year, Karnataka beat Meghalaya 3-2 to emerge champions at the 76th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy on March 4, at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. Karnataka last won the title 54 years ago and their triumph this year was special as they became the first to win the national championship on foreign soil.
In March, the chief minister of Karnataka was BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai.
According to an International Business Times report dated March 18, former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai kept the winning state team waiting for an hour and a half before meeting them for a few minutes.
We located Bommai’s Bengaluru residence on Google Maps. The Google Street View of his house matches the building seen in the viral clip, affirming further that the players were indeed waiting outside the former CM’s house. Below is a comparison between a screenshot of the Google Street View and a frame from the viral clip.
The IBTimes report also contains an image of the team with Bommai. We noticed a lot of people in the image can also be seen in the viral video.
We also identified the man seen in the video as Dhanraj Dhurve who uploaded the full version of the viral video on his YouTube channel on June 8. Titled “Indian Football & players aren’t for humiliation & disrespect, Why always us?”, the video is a commentary on how Indian football players do not get the respect and the recognition they deserve even after winning accolades for their country and their respective states. The viral portion starts at the 3:08 mark of the YouTube video.
Reacting to the viral claims, Dhanraj took to Twitter to clarify that he spoke only ‘in favour of football players’ not for any political party. He alleged that political parties were using his video for their own agenda.
Political parties using my video for their own agenda. That’s not right.
I spoke in favour of football players not for any politics ☹️— Dhanraj Dhurve (@DhanrajDhurve) June 12, 2023
Speaking to Alt News, he said, “This incident is from March when Karnataka won the Santosh Trophy in Saudi Arabia and the BJP CM invited the team to his house. I made the video for creating awareness about how players were ill-treated, but it has sadly turned into a BJP vs Congress row.”
Hence, a clip of Karnataka State football players waiting outside former minister Bavasaraj Bommai’s house after winning the Santosh Trophy is viral with the claim that it is recent, and consequently, present chief minister Siddaramaiah is being criticized for disrespecting the team.
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