No, Image Does Not Show Congress MP Apologising to Muslims in Kolhapur

Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji was having a conversation with the locals about a theft that took place recently.

An image showing Congress MP from Maharashtra's Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji, holding both of his ears is going viral to claim that his gesture signifies that he is apologising to the women surrounding him.

Who shared this?: Rishi Bagree, an X (formerly Twitter) user who often shares misinformation on social media shared this image to claim that the MP was apologising to the "local minor community for anti-encroachment drives in Vishalgad".

This claim was also shared by another X user, who has also shared mis/disinformation in the past, Mr Sinha. He later deleted his post but the archive can be seen here.

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: The leader is not apologising as claimed.

• The video of this incident shows women narrating how a woman's earrings were stolen. Hearing this, Shahaji reacts by holding his own ears, acknowledging the woman.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the viral image on Google and this led us to a post on X shared by a user named Anand Dasa.

• The caption stated that the women seen in the video were complaining to the Congress MP about a theft of earrings, after which Shahaji touched his own ears.

काँग्रेस खासदार छत्रपती शाहू महाराज आणि सतेज पाटील यांनी विशालगड ला जाऊन समाजकंटकांचा डाव उधळून लावला म्हणून छत्रपतींची या ना त्या कारणाने बदनामी करने चालू आहे.

छत्रपतींनी कान पकडून माफी मागितली असं भाजप IT सेल वाले पसरवत आहेत. पण ती महिला तिच्या कानातले दागिने कोणीतरी ओढून नेले… pic.twitter.com/hjZPTNtMDW

— Adv Anand Dasa (@Anand_Dasa88) July 18, 2024

• Taking a cue, we performed a relevant keyword search on Google and came across a YouTube video shared by Mumbai Tak on 16 July.

• The video shows the leader interacting with the locals of Gajapur village. After they were attacked by a mob, leading to arson and stone-pelting on 14 July.

• In this video, we can clearly hear women at 1:37 timestamp saying, "They entered her house, and then snatched away her earrings from her ears".

• To this, Shahaji reacts by touching his ears twice and saying, " Earrings were stolen?" He also communicates this to someone next to him.

Moreover, we did not find any news report about Shahaji apologising to the locals for an anti-encroachment drive.

Conclusion: A false claim alleging Congress MP Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji apologised to the minorities in Vishalgad for an anti-encroachment drive is going viral online.

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