Old Clip of Pro-Hindu Sloganeering in Kanpur Viral as One From Maharashtra

This clip is from 2022 and shows a group of Bajrang Dal engaging a society in Kanpur in the sloganeering.

Fact-Check: This clip is old from 2022 from Kanpur and not Maharashtra.

(Source: The Quint) 

A video showing an apartment complex with a group of people holding saffron flags and chanting pro-Hindu slogans in the compound is being shared on social media platforms.

The clip also shows people on balconies looking at the group, with some clapping and raising slogans.

The claim: Those sharing have claimed that the clip is from Maharashtra, which is going for elections this month.

• Users wrote, "Finally Hindus are awakening. Visuals from Maharashtra."

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

This post recorded 536.5K views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: The claim is misleading.

• This clip is from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh shot in 2022. It shows a group of Bajrang Dal engaging residents of Diviniti Homes in sloganeering and urged them to vote for the then assembly elections.

What we found: We divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• Team WebQoof came across several old posts from 2022 featuring the same video on Facebook. You can view some of them here and here.

• None of these posts mentioned that the video was from Maharashtra.

• Another post on Facebook by a page named, "Vishwa Hindu Parishad Bajrang Dal Block Banskhoh" posted the same video in 2022.

• In its caption, it noted, "Prabhat Pheri, Kanpur West. This society echoed with the slogans of Jai Shri Ram!"

• Prabhat Pheri is a tradition of chanting and singing while walking around the neighbourhood in the morning.

• We, then, ran a relevant keyword search on Facebook and came across another post featuring the same video by an account named, "Sanatani Abhishek Singh Chauhan, " from February 2022.

• According to the user's caption, the group belonged to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and that it would host such programs of devotion on a daily basis.

• The user listed names of several societies in Kanpur where the group was organising this activity in the caption.

• We checked the names of these housing complexes on Google Maps and found one which matched with the visuals in the viral video.

• Diviniti Homes, Indra Nagar in Kanpur matched with the visuals in the viral clip.

Here is a comparison between the two visuals.

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

Apart from the communal slogans, the group also urged the residents to vote on 20 February 2022 for the UP state assembly election.

Conclusion: An old video from Kanpur displaying pro-Hindu sloganeering inside a housing society complex is being falsely shared as one from Maharashtra, ahead of polls.

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