By Anmol Alphonso
An old video showing West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Anirban Ganguly being escorted into his car by security personnel as an angry mob with sticks chase him and later attack his car is being shared on social media falsely claiming that it is from Madhya Pradesh.
Assembly elections are being held in Madhya Pradesh with voting beginning today on November 17, 2023 and the results will be declared on December 3.
The 30 seconds video was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by the handle Mahak yadav (@mahakyadav_) with the caption when translated from Hindi reads, "Even before the voting in Madhya Pradesh, the public has started giving results. People are driving out ruling leaders in Madhya Pradesh. Watch the full video and RT."
(In Hindi - मध्यप्रदेश में वोटिंग होने से पहले ही जनता ने रिजल्ट देना शुरू कर दिया है मध्यप्रदेश में सत्ताधारी नेताओ को जनता खदेड़ रही है वीडियो पूरा देखो और RT करो बस)
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The same video is being widely shared on Facebook with the same false claim.
Also Read:Did Amit Shah Ask People Not To Vote For BJP Candidate In MP? A FactCheck
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from Bolpur, West Bengal in 2021 when BJP leader Anirban Ganguly was chased and his car was vandalised.
BOOM Hindi had previously debunked the same video back in February 2022 when it was being shared before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections falsely claiming that it showed a UP BJP leader being chased away by angry voters.
We ran a reverse image on the keyframes of the viral video, and found the full version of the video was uploaded on Sangbad Pratidin's YouTube channel on April 29, 2021. At the 28 seconds timestamp we can see the same sequence of events as in the viral video.
We also found an ABP Anand report from April 29, 2021, which stated that the incident took place in Ilambazar, Bolpur, Birbhum, where the car of BJP candidate Anirban Gangopadhyay was vandalised. The report further stated that four TMC workers were also injured in the BJP's retaliatory attack after the incident.
Ganguly had also posted on April 29, 2021, on the same day of the incident informing people that he was fine after the attack in Illambazar.
