Following the Tirupati prasad row in which the suspected presence of beef tallow, fish oil, and lard (pig fat) was found, a video went viral on social media showing a group of people attacking a man for allegedly making fun of Hindus regarding the issue.
Those sharing identified the person being beaten as Piyush Manush, and claimed that he posted a video called "Beef laddu for all Hindus delivered by Perumal himself" before being attacked by people in Salem, Tamil Nadu.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
This post gathered one million views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)
Is this true?: No, the claim is false.
This video is from August 2019 and shows activist Piyush Manush being physically assaulted by members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for entering their Salem office without permission.
The fight broke out when Manush engaged in an argument with the BJP workers.
What we found: With the help of a keyword search, we found a longer version of the same video on a YouTube page called "NewsGlitz Tamil" that was uploaded on 28 August 2019.
The viral clip contained the channel logo and watermark. The headline mentioned that Piyush Manush was attacked at the BJP headquarters.
According to a report by the Indian Express from 2019, Manush was attacked by BJP members at their party headquarters in Salem when both parties were arguing passionately about various issues, including receiving threats from a BJP worker and the Centre's decision on Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian Express noted that Manush had announced on his Facebook page that he would be going to the BJP office in Salem to discuss the economy, Kashmir crisis, and various other issues.
Later, The News Minute reported that the activist filed a complaint with the Salem police against BJP workers for thrashing him.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had publicly condemned the attack against the activist on his official X page in 2019 when he was in the Opposition in the state.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Manush debunks claim: Taking to his Facebook page on 21 September, Manush wrote that some people were circulating a video from 2019. He added that the incident was five years old.
Conclusion: An old video from 2019 showing a man being thrashed is being shared as recent with false claims.
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