After Cong Wins Elections, Videos Go Viral With Misleading Claims

Several videos with false claims have been circulating online since Congress’ victory in state Assembly elections.

The Congress’ win in three big states in the Hindi heartland in December triggered a disinformation overdrive.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

From passing off old videos as "mobs after the Congress won" to claiming that Pakistan flags were waved at a victory rally, we have seen a lot in the past week. The Congress party's win in three big states in the Hindi heartland in December triggered a disinformation overdrive.

A day after the results, several Facebook pages shared a video, which claimed that a Pakistan flag was raised at a Congress victory procession in Rajasthan's Teori village.

The Quint found that the flag was actually an Islamic flag. We contacted the Jodhpur Police, which confirmed that no Pakistan flags were raised at any procession in the village.

Showing images of a mob, the second video claimed that “riots broke out in Jodhpur post the Congress' win."

However, a reverse image search of screenshots from the video proved that the video was not from Rajasthan. It was from Gujarat's Morbi, where a mob had gathered on 8 December after a 13-year-old boy was killed. Morbi Police told The Quint that there were no political interests behind the incident.

The third video claimed that pro-Pakistan and Babri Masjid slogans were raised at a rally after Congress’s victory in the Assembly elections. The video was widely shared on several Right-wing groups, and was also tweeted out by people with substantial online influence such as Madhu Kishwar and Tarek Fatah.

Are the claims accurate? No. For starters, the video is from Uttar Pradesh, and not from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh or Rajasthan. Secondly, the video is at least three years old and it features people waving flags of the 'Indian Union Muslim League', and not of Pakistan, as claimed.

As the race for 2019 Lok Sabha polls intensifies, the fake news web is likely to churn faster. So be wary of claims on the Internet, and while you are at it, try not to be a WebQoof.

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