CLAIM
A viral video on social media claims that people in Balochistan, Pakistan celebrated Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) win in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. In the video, people can be seen singing and dancing, while somebody is also holding BJP’s flag. The claim along with the video reads:
‘भजपा की पाकिस्तान मे पहली शाखा खुल चुकी है । भारत मे तो अक्सर ग़द्दार भारतीय पाकिस्तानी झंडे लहराते रहे है पर आज तबियत ख़ुश हो गई ये दृश्य देखकर ।’
(Translation: The BJP has opened its first branch in Pakistan. In India, traitor indians often wave Pakistan’s flags, but now it is pleasant to see this view.)
The Facebook page of ‘Indian Warrior’ shared the video and received an engagement of over 16,000 views and 700 shares till the time this article was written.
Several social media users have shared the viral video on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
The Quint also received a query about the claims made about the same video via our WhatsApp helpline.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim around the viral video is false. This video is not of people in Balochistan celebrating BJP’s win, but people dancing and singing when BJP candidate Sofi Yousuf from Anantnag in Kashmir, was going to file his nomination papers.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT?
On listening to the video carefully, the group can be heard chanting: “सोफी साहब कदम बढ़ाओ, हम तुम्हारे साथ हैं; नरेंद्र भाई कदम बढ़ाओ, हम तुम्हारे साथ हैं”
(Translated: Sofi Sir, step forward, we are with you; Narendra Bhai step forward, we are with you)
Consequently, we ran a search using ‘Sofi’ and ‘BJP.’ We found videos that showed that the people were raising slogans for Sofi Yousuf, the state vice president of BJP for Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP had fielded him as Lok Sabha candidate from Anantnag in Kashmir. He can also be seen in the video, although not very clearly.
Then, to find where the video was shot, we searched with the keywords: ‘Sofi,’ ‘Kashmir’ and ‘BJP.’ The search led us to a video put up by Fast Kashmir on Facebook. The caption of the video reads: “Video, BJP Candidate Sofi Yousuf files nomination form for Parliamentary polls in South Kashmir's Anantnag.”
We tracked tweets regarding the viral video on TweetDeck, a dashboard application for management of Twitter accounts using keywords ‘Sofi,’ ‘Yousuf,’ and ‘nomination.’ This search led us to a tweet by BJP Jammu & Kashmir’s official Twitter handle. The tweet claimed that people were sloganeering for Sofi Yousuf when he was going to file nomination papers in Anantnag.
DIFFERENT CLAIM IN THE PAST
Previously, the same video was viral with a slightly different claim, that BJP’s flag was hoisted in Pakistan’s Balochistan in support of Modi’s election contest.
The claim reads: ‘पाकिस्तान के बलूचिस्तान में फहराया भाजपा का झण्डा। मोदी सरकार आयी तो बलूचिस्तान होगा आज़ाद। मोदी है तो मुमकिन है।’
(Translation: BJP flag hoisted in Pakistan's Balochistan, if Modi government comes, Balochistan will be free. It is possible if Modi is there.)
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