‘Kalma’ written on Indian flag after Congress win in Telangana? Part of old Zee News bulletin falsely viral

by Kinjal

A video of former editor-in-chief of Zee News Sudhir Chaudhary is being shared widely on social media platforms. In the clip, Chaudhury remarks that protesters in Telangana removed the Ashok Chakra from the Indian tricolour and wrote the Islamic Kalma on it. He says in the video, “Now you must have understood why we are saying that for these people, nothing is above religion. These people do not understand the Constitution of this country. Now think about the tricolour. People want to create a situation in which they want to remove the Ashok Chakra from the tricolour and write the Kalma on it and today they have written it too, this is…”

X handle ‘Munna Yadav’ tweeted the 48-second clip, claiming that as soon as Congress won the Assembly polls in Telangana, Kalma was written on the Indian tricolour. He further wrote in the caption, “Would you still want Congress to come to power in your respective states or at the Centre…Hindus, beware of Congress…” (Archive)

Congress recently won the assembly elections in Telangana with a vast majority.

An X user named Manoj Srivastava also shared this video with a similar claim. (Archived link)

X user ‘The Hindu Sena’ also tweeted this video with a similar claim. (Archived link)

This video is also widespread on Facebook with the same claim.

Fact Check

The viral video features the logos of ‘Zee News’ and ‘DNA’ in the background behind anchor Sudhir Chaudhary, which used to be the name of his show. However, it is worth noting that Chaudhary joined India Today Group’s Aaj Tak channel in July 2022, with the name of his segment there being ‘Black and White’. This confirms that the viral video cannot be related to the recently held assembly elections held in Telangana.

Next, we started examining videos of Zee News’ DNA program. This led us to a video of this show dated June 10, 2022. Here, scenes from the viral video appear from the 33:12 mark onwards.

According to Zee News’ show DNA, this alleged incident took place in Mahabubnagar, Telangana. After watching the full program, we came to know that this protest was sparked by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks about Prophet Mohammad. Firstpost and Deccan Chronicle had also published reports covering this matter. The Times of India also reported that the police were collecting videos related to the protest in Mahabubnagar and if necessary, would take appropriate action in the matter.

It is also worth noting that at the time, the chief minister of Telangana was K. Chandrashekhar Rao and there was a Bharat Rashtra Samithi-majority government in the state.

To sum it up, a clipped video of an old Zee News report by Sudhir Chaudhary was shared on social media to falsely target the recently formed Congress government in Telangana.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.