Old video of PM Modi’s mock funeral staged in Tamil Nadu shared as Haryana

A video of protesters staging a mock funeral of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone viral on social media. It is being claimed that the procession was carried out in Haryana where farmers have been protesting against the Modi government’s farm bills. AICC spokesperson Dr Udit Raj shared the video on Facebook on September 27.

“शुरुआत हो चुकी है, हरियाणा में भारी संख्या मे साहेब का जोरदार विरोध प्रदर्शन किया गया, परंतु कोई भी गोदी मीडिया इसे दिखाने की हिम्मत नहीं कर रहा। (It’s started, huge protest in Haryana but pliable media does not have the courage to show this.)” — reads the accompanying message.

In the video, people can be heard chanting in Hindi, “Modi is dead, cry, cry loudly, cry together…Khattar is dead.” The cries for ‘Khattar’ refers to the Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar.

Dr Udit Raj’s All India Parisangh (API) also tweeted the video.

शुरुआत हो चुकी है,
हरियाणा में भारी संख्या मे साहेब का जोरदार विरोध प्रदर्शन किया गया, परंतु कोई भी गोदी मीडिया इसे दिखाने की हिम्मत नहीं कर रहा । pic.twitter.com/CZ8GNkGpXS

— All India Parisangh (AIP) (@aiparisangh) September 27, 2020

Facebook page ‘Aam Admi Zindabad(आम आदमी जिंदाबाद)’ shared the video drawing close to 4,000 likes.

Old video from Tamil Nadu

Ironically, the same video was shared by Gaurav Pandhi, national coordinator of Congress Digital Communications, in 2017. Pandhi also claimed that the protest was held in Haryana.

Widespread anger in Haryana against Sarkar; outraged janta takes out funeral procession of PM Modi & CM Khattar, literally abusing the BJP. pic.twitter.com/qDMJKRFgnE

— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) August 28, 2017

Alt News had debunked this video in 2018 when it was viral as people in Pakistan celebrating Congress’s electoral victory in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh.

A Google search with the keywords, “मोदी अर्थी (Modi’s funeral)” led us to a YouTube video but with different audio.

In this video, protestors can be heard speaking Tamil which hinted that the viral Hindi version could be a doctored video. According to a website, the images pertain to a protest held against the ban on Jallikattu in 2017. In the collage below, the image on the left is a screen-grab from the YouTube video and the one on the right is from the viral video circulating on social media.

A blog published on January 21, 2017, carried an image of the protest in Tamil Nadu. We found a video by Nakkheeran TV on the anti-Modi processions that were taken out by the protesters in a similar fashion to revoke the ban on Jallikattu.

An article published by The News Minute on January 20, 2017, reported on the protests.

Audio from a protest in Haryana

The slogans chanted in the doctored version have a striking resemblance to the ones chanted during a protest held by Multi-purpose health workers against the Haryana government. At 0:29 minutes into the video, slogans chanted against the Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar can be heard.

Alt News couldn’t conclusively establish the veracity of the audio in the video clip shared on social media. However, it does not represent any recent protest in Haryana against Prime Minister Modi. The video is of a 2018 protest in Tamil Nadu.