No, pro-Pakistan slogan was NOT raised in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh

A video shot during a procession where people can be seen celebrating the victory of a newly-elected Panchayat Samiti member in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh is widely circulating on social media. Several BJP members of the state alleged that pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in this rally. This was also reported by multiple mainstream media outlets and an FIR was registered against 62 people, out of which 12 people have been named.

62 people, including a newly elected panchayat samiti member, have been booked for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans at a panchayat poll victory procession in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district, a senior police officer said

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 22, 2022

Pratul Shah Deo, BJP Jharkhand spokesperson, shared the video on Twitter saying that once again pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in Jharkhand. He further added that the video is said to be from Hazaribagh and the incident should be thoroughly investigated.

एक बार फिर से झारखंड में पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद के नारे सुनाई दे रहे हैं।
देशद्रोहियों का मनोबल आखिर कैसे इतना बढ़ गया है?
हजारीबाग की घटना बताया जा रहा है।
वीडियो की सत्यता की जांच हो और कठोरतम कार्रवाई।
गद्दारों के साथ कोई रियायत नहीं।
@jhar_governor @HMOIndia @JharkhandPolice pic.twitter.com/XJpMHQfDam

— Pratul Shah Deo (@pratulshahdeo) May 21, 2022

Deepak Prakash, the state president of BJP Jharkhand, shared the video on Twitter and wrote, “When the Chief Minister of Jharkhand has a problem with the slogan “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, there will be slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad” in the state”. He also made a xenophobic remark in his tweet.

जब झारखंड के मुख्यमंत्री को “भारत माता की जय” के नारे से दिक्कत होती है तो राज्य में “पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद” के नारे लगेंगे हीं.

कांग्रेस समर्थित हेमंत सरकार में घुसपैठ चरम पर है, रोहिंग्या और बांग्लादेशियों की संख्या लगातार बढ़ रही है लेकिन राज्य सरकार खनिज लूटने में व्यस्त है. pic.twitter.com/uO7u5o4LXD

— Deepak Prakash (@dprakashbjp) May 22, 2022

Media outlets The Times of India, Republic, The Hindu, Times Now, Business Standard, and Scroll reported on the incident. Pro-BJP propaganda website OpIndia also ran similar stories. It is important to note that Business Standard and The Hindu have attributed their report to PTI.

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Many of these media outlets also stated that similar slogans were raised in Giridih last month, after which the police arrested a mukhiya candidate and two of his supporters. Alt News has already debunked this claim. The report can be read here.

Fact-check

Alt News contacted a local journalist who helped us connect with Shamim Ansari, who is the son of the newly elected Panchayat Samiti member, Amina Bibi.

Shamim shared with us a series of videos from the victory procession that took place on May 19. We have compared the viral video circulating on social media to the one shared by Shamim Ansari. The slogan raised just at the beginning of the video has been interpreted as “Pakistan zindabad” however when we play the video in slow motion, it is evident that the slogan “Choti cha zindabad” was raised.

Followed by this are slogans, “Nizam Ansari zindabad”, “Jagdish sab zindabad”, “Shamim Ansari zindabad” so on and so forth.

In another video, one can hear the slogan “Choti cha zindabad” starting from 0:17 seconds. It is evident from both the videos that no pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in this procession.

Shamim Ansari also shared with us a video statement explaining his end of the story. The video also features a statement from Choti Ram aka “Choti cha”, the person whose name is chanted. Readers can skip to the 3:11-minute mark to listen to Choti Ram’s statement.

Speaking to ANI, Hazaribagh SP M R Chothe said that FIR has been registered against various persons including the newly elected Panchayat Committee member of Shiladih, Amina “Khatun”. It is important to note that the SP says that it is not clear what slogans were raised.

To conclude, a video has yet again been made viral on social media claiming that pro-Pakistan slogans were raised when, in reality, the slogan was “Choti cha zindabad”.