A video ascribed to Kavi Pradeep, the lyricist who penned the words to the song ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo’, is circulating widely on social media. The elderly man in the video is criticising Jawaharlal Nehru for the events that unfolded during the independence movement. He says, “We celebrate 15th August. But what did we really get on August 15th? Muslims got two countries, Bangladesh and Pakistan. What did we get? We lost 1/3 of our country… there should not have been a division in the name of religion. Since it happened, the entire Muslim population should have gone there. And all Hindus should stay here… Was it a conspiracy? This was not a good thing… On 15th August, when the water of our five rivers was turning red with blood, Mr Nehru was dancing and exchanging congratulations… Is there anything bigger than the country? Recognize August 15 as a day of mourning, that’s fine. 10 lakh massacred and 53 crores displaced…”

Facebook user Mukesh Sahariya posted the visuals as a video of Kavi Pradeep. (Archive link)

 

दादा साहेब फाल्के पुरस्कार से सम्मानित प्रसिद्ध कवि प्रदीप के कड़वे प्रश्न …

Posted by Mukesh Sahariya on Saturday, February 12, 2022

The video and accompanying claim were also circulated on Twitter.

The video was uploaded on YouTube with the same claim.

The footage is also widespread on Facebook.

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Fact-check

We noticed that another user shared the same video but without mentioning Kavi Pradeep. The video contains a watermark that reads ‘Keshu Films’. We performed a search on YouTube using this information and found a channel named ‘Keshu Films’. This channel uploaded a video of the person seen in the viral video on November 22, 2017. According to the caption, the name of the person is Gulab Singh Rajput, who used to work in the Cooperative Societies Department of the Haryana Government.

The channel also uploaded the video currently going viral on the same day, November 22, 2017.

Furthermore, in February 2020, the channel uploaded a video reporting the death of Gulab Singh Rajput. Alt News also reached out to Keshav Mehta, who runs ‘Keshu Films’. He informed us that the individual seen in the video is not Kavi Pradeep but Gulab Singh Rajput.

We then contacted Kavi Pradeep’s daughter Mitul Pradeep. She explained that the person seen in the video was not her father. She added that Kavi Pradeep had passed away 24 years ago. Mitul had also lodged a complaint in the matter at the Juhu Police Station and shared a copy of the FIR with Alt News.

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To sum it up, a video of Gulab Singh Rajput from Karnal was falsely shared on social media as Kavi Pradeep.

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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.