No, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ wasn’t chanted during nomination rally of Jharkhand Mukhiya candidate

by Abhishek Kumar

A video shot during the nomination of a Mukhiya candidate Shakir Hussain in Dokidih panchayat of Giridih district in Jharkhand is viral on social media. It is being claimed that slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were raised in the nomination rally. Several mainstream media channels and news outlets carried the video with this claim. After the video went viral, an FIR was lodged against Shakir Hussain and others under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including but not limited to Section 124A (sedition) and Section 153A (disturbing public peace). The Jharkhand police have arrested the chief candidate and three of his supporters.

In a video report, News18 Bihar Jharkhand claimed that slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were raised in the nomination procession for Dokidih mukhiya candidate ‘Shafiq Haider’ who did not stop his supporters. News18 accused the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) force of Gandey police station of inaction. News18 Jharkhand claimed the same from the channel’s Twitter handle. (Archive link)

Newsroom Post wrote, “Jharkhand: Pakistan Zindabad slogans raised in nomination procession of mukhiya candidate in Gandey block of Giridih.” (Archive link)

Many prominent news outlets Zee News, Aaj Tak, News18, Dainik Jagran, India TV, Times Now, Hindustan, NDTV, New Indian Express, India Today, Navbharat Times, First Post, Republic Bharat, Dainik Bhaskar, among others, ran the video with the identical claim. Pro-BJP propaganda website OpIndia and RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya ran similar stories.

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This video is viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

Fact-check

Alt News contacted local residents of Dokidih to investigate the viral video. We were told that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were not raised during the procession. Apart from the viral videos, we found several other videos taken from different angles.

We watched one of these videos in slow-motion at 0.75x speech and found that the chants made during the nomination procession were “Shakir Hussain Zindabad, Shakir Hussain Zindabad, Dokidih Panchayat ka mukhiya kaisa ho – Shakir Hussain jaisa ho”.

We request readers to use earphones while listening to the video below.

In the viral video, IRB forces posted at the entrance of the block can be heard saying, “Bas teen aadmi andar jayenge (Only three people can go inside)”. In the video shared by local residents (video 1), the forces deployed at the entrance can be heard giving the same instructions. We matched the frames of both the videos and found they were recorded during the same time.

We were sent another video (video 2) by locals taken during the procession. We matched this video with video 1 and found that one frame of video 2 matches video 1. Therefore, video 2 was also taken during the same rally.

We also watched video 2 in slow-motion at 0.75x speed. In this video, the slogans are clearer than in video 1 and ‘Shakir Hussain Zindabad’ can be heard much better.

We request readers to use earphones while listening to the video below.

In conclusion, slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were not raised but ‘Shakir Hussain Zindabad’ slogans were raised during the nomination procession of Shakir Hussain, the Dokidih Mukhiya candidate of Giridih district of Jharkhand. Many news organisations ran the video without verifying the facts.

That pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in a political or a religious rally is a common piece of misinformation used to target the opposition or non-BJP-ruled states. Recently, a false claim was shared on social media stating that supporters of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans in Jaipur.

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About the Author

Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).