Unrelated visuals showing a convoy of cars are being shared on social media with a false claim that it shows Hindu fringe group Karni Sena travelling to Mumbai to show support for Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut.
However, we at The Quint found that the claim is baseless as the images and videos in question can be traced back to at least 2016 and have nothing to do with Karni Sena’s support for Ranaut.
CLAIM
The viral set of images and videos are being circulated with a claim which reads: “कंगना राणावत के सम्मान में, 1000 गाड़ियों के साथ करणी सेना महाराष्ट्र रवाना। जय भवानी जय राजपूताना।अब देखो हमारी ताकत।।जय श्रीराम ”
[Translation: In the honour of Kangana Ranaut, Karni Sena has departed for Maharashtra in a convoy of 1,000 cars.]
WHAT WE FOUND
After multiple levels of checks and verification, we learnt that the images and videos which are being used in the viral posts are old and unrelated and have no connection with Karni Sena’s show of support for Kangana. Here’s what we found:
IMAGE 1
A Google reverse image search directed us to a tweet dated 1 March 2017 which carried the same image with a caption in Gujarati, which translated to: “A groom from Tharad took 30 Scorpios to get his bride. A scene straight out of a South Indian film.”
While we could not individually verify the origin of this image, the fact that it has been in circulation since 2017 proves that it has nothing do with Karni Sena or the group’s support for Ranaut.
IMAGE 2
A Yandex reverse image search directed us to a YouTube video with a similar thumbnail image. Taking cues from the description of the video we searched Google with the following keywords: “Manvendra Singh in Barmer” and found a Facebook post from 2016 which carried the aforementioned image.
IMAGE 3
A Google reverse image search helped us find several videos which featured the same image in the thumbnail with a caption suggesting that it depicts the convoy of Raj Singh Shekhawat, the Gujarat chief of Karni Sena.
Taking a cue from this we searched Google with relevant keywords and found a post on a Karni Sena Facebook page which carried the viral image. Dated 22 December 2019, the post mentioned that the image was taken at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
VIDEO
Along with the images which have been illustrated above, some viral posts also carried a video to push the same false claim. To reach to the bottom of this, we fragmented the video into multiple keyframes using the InVid Google Chrome extension and followed it up with a reverse image search. This helped us find a clearer version of the video where could identity ‘Jammu and Kashmir Party’ written on a banner at a bus stop.
We also heard ‘Jai Rajputana’ slogans emerging from the crowd. Taking a cue from this we searched Google with the following keywords: “Jai Rajputana chants at Jammu Rally” and found the same video on YouTube, uploaded in 2018.
Evidently, even this video has been in circulation since 2018 and has no connection with Kangana Ranaut or Karni Sena.
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