By BOOM FACT Check Team
An old video of Arnab Goswami dancing with a group of people has gone viral on Facebook with a false claim that it shows the Republic TV editor-in-chief celebrating the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.
The thirty-second clip, shows a group of people dancing indoors to the song 'Ishq Tera Tadpave' by Sukhbir. A visibly younger looking Goswami is also seen shaking a leg in the video.
The video has been posted by several right-wing Facebook users claiming it shows Goswami celebrating the fall of MVA government led by Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra.
"Arnab Goswami in Republic's studio doing bhangra after Uddhav Thackeray's strong defeat," one of the captions accompanying the video claims.
(Original text in Hindi अर्णब गोस्वामी R republic studio.... में उद्धव ठाकरे की करारी हार पर भांगड़ा करते हुए)
Arnab Goswami, a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been outspoken in his criticism of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray during his tenure on a number of issues. Goswami, who was arrested and released on bail in November 2020 in a 2018 suicide case, claimed his arrest was political vendetta by the Shiv Sena leader and the MVA government.
Meanwhile Uddhav Thackeray stepped down as chief minister on Wednesday after he was outnumbered by an internal rebellion in his party led by Eknath Shinde. The video has been revived in this context.
FACT CHECK
BOOM was able to ascertain that the video is from July 2005 predating the launch of Times Now.
We did a keyword search of 'Arnab Goswami dance/dancing' on YouTube and were able to find the same video was uploaded to the site in March 2021. This shows that the video is not recent nor is it related to the political crisis that took place in Maharashtra this year.
It is evident by watching the viral video that the clip is old as Goswami looks noticeably younger.
We also worked out that the video could be from the time Goswami was at Times Now, based on his hairstyle in the viral video. Goswami worked at the English news channel from 2006 to 2016 hosting its flagship prime-time show 'The Newshour Debate'.
Times Now was launched in January 2006 shortly after the launch of CNN-IBN (News18).
Using Times Now as a cue, we did a keyword search for Times Now launch party on YouTube and found another video titled 'Times Now Launch Party July 05.' The clip was uploaded on Feb 11, 2010. The description of the video said, 'Party to celebrate christening of the new channel as Times Now'.
The opening credit of the video states 'Presenting to you TIMES NOW' followed by 'Launch Party July 2005'.
The same visuals showing Arnab Goswami dancing can be see from the three minute mark in the video.
BOOM also reached out to former Times Now employees to verify the exact date the video was recorded.
"This was not a launch party. It was a party after the logo got finalised," a former Times Now employee, who did not wish to be named, told BOOM.
The source said the clip was from July 2, 2005.
