Old Video of BJP's Anirban Ganguly Being Attacked by People Shared As Recent

Team WebQoof debunked the same video being shared with a different false claim in 2022, as well.

Fact-Check: Old video of attack on BJP's Anirban Ganguly shared as recent. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

Amid the ongoing elections, a video showing security personnel escorting a man into a vehicle while being followed and attacked by a mob is circulating on social media platforms.

• According to users, it shows the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Lok Sabha candidate Anirban Ganguly from Jadavpur, West Bengal.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot)

The post recorded 24.3K views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: The claim is old as the video is from 2021. Anirban Ganguly was being chased by residents in Illambazar in Birbhum, West Bengal.

• Ganguly was a BJP candidate from the Bolpur constituency of the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2021.

How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for more videos of the incident.

• We came across a video uploaded on Bengali news outlet Sangbad Pratidin’s YouTube channel, dated 29 April 2021.

Here is a comparison between the two clips. 

(Altered by The Quint)

• The video title read that it showed an attack on Anirban Ganguly, the BJP candidate for Bolpur, in Illambazar, Birbhum.

• We also came across a news report by ABP Ananda from 29 April 2021.

• It noted that Ganguly was chased by voters with bamboo sticks. Following this, Trinamool Congress workers were injured in BJP's counter attack.

• According to the report, Ganguly met with protests while accompanying voters to the polling booth, leading to an altercation, involving the throwing of stones.

• West Bengal State Assembly elections were held between 27 March 2021 to 29 April 2021. The votes were counted on 2 May 2021.

Team WebQoof debunked the same video in 2022 when it was being shared with a different claim. You can read the story here.

Conclusion: Clearly, an old video of locals attacking BJP's Anirban Ganguly is being shared as recent.

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