No, Video Doesn’t Show BJP Paying People to Attend Yogi’s WB Rally

The said video could be traced back to the Jharkhand Assembly election held in 2019.

A viral video is being shared with a claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party is distributing money to gather crowd for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s rally in Bengal.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An old video from 2019 is being reshared on social media in the light of the West Bengal polls which are scheduled for 27 March.

The video shows a few men distributing cash to people and it is being falsely claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is distributing money to galvanise crowds for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s rally in the poll-bound state.

CLAIM

The claim along with which the said video is being shared, reads: “पश्चिम बंगाल में सीएम योगी की रैली में भीड़ जुटाने के लिए भाजपा कार्यकर्ताओं ने देर रात बाटें पैसे|”

[Translation: BJP workers distributed money late at night in West Bengal to gather crowds for UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s rally.]

An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND

We fragmented the video into multiple keyframes and ran a reverse image search on one of those frames. This directed us to an extended version of the same video uploaded on YouTube on 17 October 2019 with the caption: जन आशीर्वाद यात्रा: रघुबर दास सरकार की नयी योजना- रैली में आओ Rs 500 पाओ !

We found that the text written on the T-shirts of the people seen in the video, reads: ‘Abki baar 65 paar,’ (This time, we will cross 65 seats), which was the BJP’s tagline during 2019 Jharkhand elections.

(Photo: The Quint)

The same video was also published in a report by a local website Newswing on 17 October 2019, which claimed that the cash is being distributed by BJP volunteers.

Although we have not been able to verify the identity of the people seen in the video, a local reporter had confirmed to The Quint in January 2020 that the video was from Jharkhand.

This same video had gone viral in January 2020 with another false claim that BJP workers were distributing cash to the protesters at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.

Clearly, an old video, which could be traced back to October 2019, has been revived with false claim that people were paid to attend Adityanath’s West Bengal rally.

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