By Hazel Gandhi
A video of a group of men chanting slogans in support of the Indian army is being shared to falsely claim that it shows the people of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) voicing their support to India.
BOOM found that the video is from August 2023 and shows the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities during a demonstration for their reservation rights in Uri, Baramulla.
The nearly 2-minute long video shows a man addressing a crowd and taking an oath. Parts of the oath heard in the video, translated roughly from Hindi are, "We swear to work with the Indian army to protect India's law and constitution and work towards the country's progress. We, the people of Gujjar Bakarwal will sacrifice our lives for the country if needed."
Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pradya Thakur, shared the video on X with the caption, "Those who once used to talk about fundamentalists, stones and guns, today after the removal of Article 370, are taking oath to honor India and protect India....!! May the impossible be made possible by the BJP government and its top leadership, respected Shri Narendra Modi ji!!"
(Original text in Hindi: "जो कभी कट्टरपंथी, पत्थर और बंदूको से बातें करते थे आज धारा 370 हटने के बाद भारत के सम्मान और भारत की रक्षा की कसमें खा रहे हैं ....!! असंभव को संभव बना दे वो भाजपा सरकार और शीर्ष नेतृत्व आदरणीय श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी जी !!")
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Another user on Facebook wrote, "How many more good days need❗* Best time to get back POK 👍👌* People of Pak authorized Kashmir (POK) (Bakar wall) swearing in public to support India and our army* What was not possible for 70 years is happening now because if Modi is there then it is possible !!!!!!!"
(Original text in Hindi: "*और कितने अच्छे दिन चाहिए❗*पीओके को वापस पाने का सबसे अच्छा समय 👍👌* पाक अधिकृत कश्मीर (पीओके) (बकर दीवार) के लोग सार्वजनिक रूप से भारत और हमारी सेना का समर्थन करने की कसम खाते हुए* जो 70 वर्षों तक संभव नहीं था वह अब हो रहा है क्योंकि मोदी है तो मुमकिन है !!!!!!!*")
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from August 2023 and shows a demonstration by the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities in Baramulla, a district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
We looked at the video closely and found that one of the demonstrators was holding a placard that read, 'Gujjar Bakarwal Ekta Zindabad', which translates to 'Long live the unity of Gujjar-Bakarwal'.
Taking a hint from this, we ran a keyword search using 'Gujjar Bakarwal take oath to support Indian army' and found a Facebook video shared on August 19, 2023. This video matched the viral video and was shared with the caption, "During ST bachao Andolan at URI Baramulla. Gujjarbakarwal people of Uri take oath to support their Indian Army and save constitution, democracy, and unity of the country. #NarendraModi #AmitShah #india #indianarmy"
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We also found another post with the same video shared on August 21. The caption mentioned that the leader of the demonstration was Rafiq Bhalote.
BOOM had earlier spoken to Rafiq Bhalote in September 2023 when the video was viral with the same claim in Bangla language. At the time, Bhalote had clarified that the demonstration had no connection to POK and said, "The yatra was held at Lagama Dak Bungalow area in Baramulla district. This meeting was held right after Independence Day where the youth of Gujjar Bakkarwal community of Uri took the oath."
On July 26, 2023, the Centre introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to a group of upper-caste communities in J&K, including the Paharis and Kolis. This led to protests in the region among the tribal Gujjar and Bakarwal communities, who deemed the bill unconstitutional and a threat to their rights. The communities had earlier staged protests in 2021 when talks of the inclusion of upper-caste communities in the ST category began.
"For two long years, minority communities, including the Gujjar Bakarwal community, staged yatras to protest against the government's decision to grant certain reservations," he had said while referring to the communities' demonstration.
He further told us that the person seen holding the microphone in the viral video was him and said, "This video is being shared with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir but it has nothing to do with Pakistan."
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