Old Video From Mumbai Falsely Linked to Karnataka Hijab Row

The 2017 video showed Marathas taking out a massive march in Mumbai to press for reservations.

A video showing a huge crowd marching on a road has gone viral on social media with users linking the video with the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka where a section of Hindu students took out protests opposing wearing of a hijab inside educational institutions.

Several groups of students wearing saffron scarves and shawls were seen protesting in several districts across Karnataka.

However, we found that the video, which dates back to 2017, showed a protest held in Mumbai, Maharashtra to ask for reservations for people from the Maratha community.

CLAIM

Those sharing the video wrote, "शाबाश मेरे सनातनी बच्चो. कर्नाटक के बच्चों को देखकर अब लगता है कि नई पौध सनातन रक्षा के लिए ज्यादा सशक्त है।"

[Translation: Well done my Sanatani children. Seeing the children of Karnataka, now it seems that the new generation is well-equipped for the protection of Sanatan Dharm.]

Archives of more such posts from Facebook and Twitter can be found here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We took screenshots from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search on Google.

While going through the search results, we found the same video posted in August 2017. We also found social media posts having screenshots of the video.

A hashtag on the post said that the video was from "Maratha Morcha Rally". Taking a cue from the caption, we conducted a keyword search and found news reports talking about the a huge rally by people from the Maratha community pushing for reservations.

A report published in The Quint said, "Thousands of people belonging to the Maratha community, from different parts of Maharashtra, converged here (Mumbai) on Wednesday as part of their campaign to press for reservation in jobs and education among other demands."

Similar visuals of the protest were also shared by other news organisations like The Indian Express and The Times of India. The tweet by TOI said that the crowd was seen on Mumbai's JJ Flyover. We compared screenshots from the viral video with the visuals from The Indian Express video and noticed some similarities.

Evidently, an old video from Mumbai was falsely shared a recent protest held in Karnataka amid the row over wearing of hijab in educational institutions.

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