Bajrang Dal protesting against farm bills? No, video of Shiv Sena protesting fuel prices hike

A video has recently gone viral on social media platforms with the claim that Bajrang Dal members protested against the new farm laws in Uttar Pradesh. The clip shows a group of protestors raising slogans against Prime Minister Modi. Congress media panelist Surendra Rajput tweeted the visuals and wrote, “Now the BJP’s Bajrang Dal also stands with farmers.” It racked up over 7,500 views at the time of writing. (Archive link)

अब #भाजपा का #बजरंग दल भी #किसान के साथ। pic.twitter.com/GOSeyPAF89

— Surendra Rajput (@ssrajputINC) February 13, 2021

Twitter handle @TheDehatDastak shared the clip with the same claim. (Archive link)

धीरे धीरे पुरा देश जागेगा
अब #भाजपा का #बजरंग_दल भी #किसान के साथ। pic.twitter.com/KmwqLoa1rv

— Dehat Dastak/देहात दस्तक (@TheDehatDastak) February 13, 2021

The video is being circulated with the accompanying claim on Facebook and Twitter.

अब #भाजपा का #बजरंग दल भी #किसान के साथ। #किसानआंदोलन@UttarPradeshPMC @INCUttarPradesh @priyankagandhi @MahilaCongress @AjayLalluINC @INCIndia @INCMP pic.twitter.com/AncOulQ9qQ

— Himani Singh (@imHimanisingh) February 13, 2021

Fact-check

The group is heard rasing Hindi slogans, “This is Modi’s game, cheap alcohol, expensive fuel” and “Word on the street is Modi is a thief”. Apart from this, a poster of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray appears at the 0:21 mark in the clip tweeted by Surendra Rajput. Using this as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search in Marathi on YouTube. This led us to a channel named ‘NEWS TODAY 24 AHMEDNAGAR’ which had uploaded the original clip on February 6, 2021, as Maharashtra’s Hingoli. The caption mentions that the Shiv Sena staged a protest over the rising price of petrol and diesel in Hingoli. Shiv Sena district chief Santosh Bangar led the rally.

Several other YouTube channels have uploaded this video as the Shiv Sena’s protest in Hingoli.

Apart from this, ‘Satishchandra Renukadas’ appears on a board in the viral video at the 9th second (readers are requested to watch the video in slow motion). This is a fabric retailer store in Hingoli city named ‘Satishchandra Renukadas Dodal‘.

Alt News also reached out to Shiv Sena’s Santosh Bangar who clarified, “The claims being made about this video on social media are false. It is from the demonstration held in Hingoli on February 5 to protest the hike in petrol and diesel prices.”

Therefore, visuals from a Shiv Sena protest in Maharashtra’s Hingoli over rising fuel prices were falsely shared as the Bajrang Dal protesting against the new agricultural laws.