By Srijit Das
An old video featuring Allu Arjun at a New York event is being shared with a false claim that it shows the Telugu actor endorsing the Congress party during the current Lok Sabha elections.
BOOM found that the video shows Arjun's presence at the India Day Parade in New York, organised by the Indian diaspora, where he was honoured with the Grand Marshal title in 2022.
Similar visuals of Arjun where he can be seen waving at a crowd from the same event, were shared earlier with the false claim that he campaigned for Congress. Read BOOM's fact check here.
In the viral video, Arjun can be heard addressing the crowd, saying, "This is India's tri-colour. It will never bow down." A caption has been overlaid on the video: "Congress Zindabad, Bharat Jodo."
A Threads user posted the video with the caption, "Vote for Congress".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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Fact Check
BOOM had debunked a similar video where Arjun can be seen waving at people standing on a vehicle. The video was viral with false claims that the actor is campaigning for the Congress party. We found that the video is from an India Day Parade, 2022. BOOM was able to ascertain that the now viral visuals are from the same event. We found that Arjun wore a stole with the words "Grand Marshal" written on it.
We then ran a search with the keywords "Allu Arjun in India Day Parade" and came across a YouTube video from August 22, 2022, wherein the actor delivers the same dialogue and wears the same attire as seen in the viral video.
We also observed that the actor shared similar footage of the event on his official YouTube channel on August 23, 2022.
Several news outlets including NDTV, The Times Of India also reported about the event at that time. The event, as reported, was held by the Federation of Indian Associations to commemorate 75 years of Independent India.
The actor had also met the Mayor of New York City as a part of the event and shared those pictures on his official X handle.
Click here to view the post.
According to its website, the Federation of Indian Associations is an organisation based in the United States, representing the expanding Indian diaspora in the Northeast USA. The organisation describes its India Day Parade event as follows, "For over more than 4 decades FIA India Day Parade is culminating every year on August month is observed as Indian Anniversary of Independence. It is considered to be the largest parade outside the India brings together over hundred-thousand members of the Diaspora for one of the biggest cultural extravaganzas in New York City."
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