Fact-check: Video of BJP workers falsely portrayed as Congress members disrespecting Hindu deities
Guwahati: In a recent viral video, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Mahila Morcha in Madhya Pradesh (MP) can be seen protesting outside the residence of the state Congress chief Jitu Patwari. This protest stemmed from remarks made by Patwari against a female BJP leader. However, the video has been falsely captioned to suggest that it shows Congress workers tearing down hoardings of Hindu deities.
The misinformation surrounding the video comes at a crucial time, with Phase 4 voting for the Lok Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh scheduled for May 13 across eight seats. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have been emphasizing the opposition's stance, particularly targeting the Congress party as being 'anti-Hindu' in their campaign speeches.
The reality, as uncovered by FACT-CHECK BOOM, is that the viral video actually captures the BJP's Mahila Morcha protesting outside Patwari's residence. They were expressing their objection to his derogatory remarks about a female BJP leader.
A keyword search led to a news report by the Free Press Journal, which corroborated the context of the video. The report, dated May 3, 2024, highlighted the protest by women from the BJP's Mahila Morcha outside Patwari's residence in Indore.
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The report also featured an X post from the same date, showing similar visuals to those in the viral video. However, the caption accompanying the post falsely accused the BJP Mahila Morcha of disrespecting images of Lord Shri Ramchandra Ji and Hanuman Ji during the protest.
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On May 3, 2024, Patwari issued an apology to the BJP leader Imarti Devi, clarifying that his remarks were taken out of context, amidst the outrage they had caused.
This story is republished from Boom as part of the Shakti Collective. Read the original story here.