Multiple videos falsely claim Congress workers thrashed by police for chanting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
11th February 2019 / 5:16 pm
Three separate videos are being circulated on social media with claims that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised in Congress meetings, causing the police to lathi-charge the party’s politicians. The accompanying text in Marathi says – “काॅग्रेस मिटींगमघ्ये पाकिस्तान झिंदाबाद,पोलीसांनी नेते ठोकले,द्या काँग्रेसला मत?उघडा डोळे,बघा निट…. बोला जय हिंद (Pakistan Zindabad slogans in Congress meeting, police thrashed politicians. Will you vote for Congress? Open your eyes and look properly. Say Jai Hind.)” All the three videos have been shared with this caption and numbered 1, 2, 3.
The first video shows Congress workers chanting slogans at an event. From a Facebook page धर्मवीर छत्रपती संभाजी महाराज, it received over 18,000 views.
काॅग्रेस मिटींगमघ्ये पाकिस्तान झिंदाबाद,पोलीसांनी नेते ठोकले,द्या काँग्रेसला मत?उघडा डोळे,बघा निट…. बोला जय हिंद
व्हीडिओ नं -१
Posted by धर्मवीर छत्रपती संभाजी महाराज on Saturday, 9 February 2019
Alt News has debunked this video in the past when it was tweeted by Madhu Kishwar who claimed that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised by Congress workers.
The video had been doing rounds on social media since before the start of the 2018 assembly elections and had already been debunked by multiple media outlets, including BBC Hindi, AFP, The Times of India and India Today.
If one watches the video carefully, a banner placed on the stage reads – ‘Nagar Congress Committee Rajsamand’, and the crowd of Congress workers actually chants – “Mai lai lalkar hai, hamaki sau ke paar hai. Bhati Saab Zindabad (We have accepted the challenge. This time we will score more than 100. Long live Bhati Saab).”
Narayan Singh Bhati was the Congress candidate from Rajsmand, Rajasthan. Alt News has broken down that part of the video where the crowd chanted his name. When heard multiple times over, “Bhati Saab Zindabad” is audible more clearly.
धर्मवीर छत्रपती संभाजी महाराज posted a second video with the same caption. It attracted more than 30,000 views. Here, police can be seen coming down heavily upon Congress workers. The Facebook page attempted to justify the police lathi-charge with claims that Congress workers raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans.
काॅग्रेस मिटींगमघ्ये पाकिस्तान झिंदाबाद,पोलीसांनी नेते ठोकले,द्या काँग्रेसला मत?उघडा डोळे,बघा निट…. बोला जय हिंद
व्हीडिओ नं -२
Posted by धर्मवीर छत्रपती संभाजी महाराज on Saturday, 9 February 2019
If one carefully watches the video, the banner on the stage reads – “Zilla Congress committee Bilaspur”.
Last year, on September 19, Chhattisgarh police thrashed Congress party workers in Bilaspur.
The incident was reported across mainstream media channels and none of them said that pro-Pakistan slogans were raised by Congress workers.
“In a shocking incident, the Chhattisgarh Police on Tuesday brutally thrashed Congress workers in Bilaspur city, leaving seven of them injured. The visuals of the incident show the cops raining blows on the Congress activists, who had returned from carrying out a protest against Urban Administration Minister Amar Agrawal, with lathis,” according to Timesnow.
The third and last video is the most viral. This too was posted by धर्मवीर छत्रपती संभाजी महाराज, among other Facebook pages and individual users (1, 2, 3). In this video too, police can be seen thrashing people claimed to be Congress workers who raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans.
काॅग्रेस मिटींगमघ्ये पाकिस्तान झिंदाबाद,पोलीसांनी नेते ठोकले,द्या काँग्रेसला मत?उघडा डोळे,बघा निट…. बोला जय हिंद
व्हीडिओ नं -३
Posted by धर्मवीर छत्रपती संभाजी महाराज on Saturday, 9 February 2019
This incident also pertains to police lathi-charge on Congress workers last year in Bilaspur, where no media reports claim that party members raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans.
Police lathi charged Congress workers who were protesting in Bilaspur, yesterday. Police official says, ‘Congress had planned this protest. We had put barricades in the area. Protesters misbehaved with the police & as a result police had to take action against them’ #Chhattisgarh pic.twitter.com/dDH4IS9Pln
— ANI (@ANI) September 18, 2018
“At least seven Congress workers were injured on Tuesday when police beat them with sticks in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur city after they allegedly threw garbage inside a minister’s house. The opposition party claimed its workers were carrying out a peaceful protest against Urban Administration Minister Amar Agrawal but were brutally beaten up by police,” reported The Times of India.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi had taken to Twitter to condemn the police action.
नरेंद्र मोदी की हुकूमत में तानाशाही एक पेशा बन गया है| बिलासपुर में रमन सिंह की सरकार द्वारा कांग्रेस कार्यकर्ताओं के मौलिक अधिकारों पर बुज़दिली से किए गए इस प्रहार को वहाँ की जनता सियासी ज़ुल्म के रूप में याद रखेगी| pic.twitter.com/to7LDkXzEt
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 19, 2018
In the past as well, Congress has been targeted using misinformation to suggest that the party has a pro-Pakistan position. This includes false claims suggesting that Pakistani flags were raised at Congress rallies or that party president Rahul Gandhi supported the idea of Rs 5,000 crore loan to the country; the accusations are relentless.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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