By Hazel Gandhi
An old video from Telangana showing a group of people attacking a BJP procession with sticks and vandalising it is being shared on Twitter as an incident from Karnataka.
BOOM found that the video is from November 2022, when clashes erupted between workers of the BJP and Bharat Rashtra Samithi, formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi, in Munugode, Telangana.
The Election Commission announced the dates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections, and informed that the polling would take place on May 10, 2023 and counting on May 13. CM Basavaraj Bommai will be defending his seat against Congress candidate Mohammed Yousuf Savanur and Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Swaroop Prakash.
The video of the BJP procession being thrashed is being shared in this context to claim that the people of Karnataka are opposed to BJP forming a government in the state.
The video was shared by Y Sathish Reddy, who is a part of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi with the caption, "The below video explains the mood of #Karnataka voter. The amount of agony, angst & pain is real and evident on the ground 👇 #KarnatakaElection2023"
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
The official handle of Karnataka Congress also shared the tweet with the caption, "BJP, which was holding a convention of empty chairs, continues to face public outrage.. Not only the BJP candidates, but even seeing the BJP's campaign vehicle, people are disgusted and outraged. Answers to the price rise of each stone @BJP4Karnatak that fell on the vehicle, corruption, fraud, mismanagement."
(Original text in Kannada: "ಖಾಲಿ ಕುರ್ಚಿಗಳ ಸಮಾವೇಶ ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಬಿಜೆಪಿಗೆ ಜನಾಕ್ರೋಶ ದರ್ಶನ ಮುಂದುವರೆದಿದೆ. ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ಅಭ್ಯರ್ಥಿಗಳಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ, ಬಿಜೆಪಿಯ ಪ್ರಚಾರ ವಾಹನವನ್ನು ಕಂಡರೂ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಅಸಹ್ಯ, ಆಕ್ರೋಶ ಹುಟ್ಟುವಂತಾಗಿದೆ. ವಾಹನಕ್ಕೆ ಬಿದ್ದ ಒಂದೊಂದು ಕಲ್ಲೆಟುಗಳೂ @BJP4Karnataka ಯ ಬೆಲೆ ಏರಿಕೆ, ಭ್ರಷ್ಟಾಚಾರ, ವಂಚನೆ, ದುರಾಡಳಿತಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕ ಉತ್ತರಗಳು.")
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from November 1, 2022 when workers from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi attacked a BJP procession ahead of the bypoll elections in Munugode, a village in Telangana.
Taking a cue from the comments and quote tweets indicating that the video is from Telangana, we ran a keyword search for the video on Google using "BJP attacked in Telangana". We found two main videos from the search, out of which one included similar visuals from our viral video. Uploaded by Times Now on November 1, 2022, the video was titled "TRS Men Attacked BJP Workers As Battle For Telangana's Munugode Turned Violent Ahead OF Bypolls"
The video shows the clashes between TRS and BJP workers from a different angle, however, the BJP's procession truck in both videos looks similar. Here is a comparison:
Using this new information, we looked up the incident in detail and found a livestream uploaded by V6 News Telugu on November 1. Our viral video can be seen from the 25:22 mark.
According to a report by TV9 Telugu, an unknown person pelted stones at BJP MLA Etela Rajendar as he was campaigning in Palivela village located in the Munugode Mandal. Several BJP workers were injured due to this, and videos even showed damage to Rajendar's car. Since the attacks took place while both BJP and BRS were campaigning, clashes ensued between the two groups where they were seen hitting each other with sticks. Police were brought in to pacify the situation and orders were also issued to deploy additional forces to Palivela.
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