An old video of a group of people taking a pledge not to vote for the Congress party in Rajasthan if the state government does not provide jobs, is viral with a false claim that Hindus in the state have boycotted the party.
On Navratri April 2, 2022 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates took out a bike rally in Karauli, a city in Rajasthan. According to the locals, stone pelting started from nearby houses near the mosque in Hatwara. Soon, it broke into a full-fledged violence as people tried to escape, leading to a stampede like situation. Provocative slogans were raised by the people in the rally before the stone pelting began, BOOM reported.
The viral video is being shared in this context.
Read More: How Karauli Turned Violent After A Bike Rally That Raised 'Jai Shri Ram' Slogans
The 22 seconds long video shows men and women with their right arm outstretched and wearing face masks repeating the words of a pledge. "Today we are taking oath that we will not vote for Congress. We will do door to door campaign that people should not vote for Congress," they can be heard saying.
The clip was shared on Facebook with a claim in Hindi reads, "Wow Hindu heroes of Rajasthan, whole India is with you. This historic step of Hindus of Rajasthan is leading towards Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation). This is how we all need to unite. Hail Lord Ram."
(Original text in Hindi: वाह राजस्थान के हिन्दू वीरों पूरा भारत आपके साथ है राजस्थान के हिन्दुओं का यह ऐतिहासिक कदम हिन्दू राष्ट्र की ओर अग्रसर कर रहा है ऐसे ही हम सब को एकजुट होने की आवश्यकता है।)
Click here to watch the video.
Also Read: Old Photo From Lucknow Falsely Shared As Delhi Communal Violence
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search with the keyframes of the video and found the same video was posted by several users on Facebook in November, 2020.
A person who claimed to be associated with 'Rajasthan Berojgar Sangh' also posted an extended video of one minute and 34 seconds duration on Facebook on November 17, 2020.
From 15 seconds onward one can read Hindi text on the banner that says Rajasthan Unified Unemployment Federation (राजस्थान एकीकृत बेरोजगार महासंघ)
Taking cue from above, We ran a keywords search on YouTube and found the video was uploaded to YouTube on November 17, 2020 from Rajasthan Berojgar Chatrasangh
The video was titled as, "Sikar: message to unemployed from Upen Yadav"
The same pledge can be seen in the video from 7:09 timestamp onward. The pledge is translated as follows.
"From Sikar district on Novemver 17, 2020, today, we are taking an oath that if Congress government does not listen to the demands of the unemployed and if their concerns are not addressed... before Zilla Parishad, Panchayet election and subsequently scheduled the Assembly Election and if they don't open doors for negotiations...in this upcoming election, we people will not vote for Congress in all of Rajasthan. We will go door to door and appeal to people not to vote for Congress. If Congress accepts demands of unemployed then we will not campaign against Congress."
A report published by Hindi daily Patrika on November 17, 2020 reported that Upen Yadav, state president of the Rajasthan Berojgar Ekatrit Mahasangh had organised the oath taking ceremony at Ramlila Maidan in Sikar for various demands including completion of pending recruitment process. Hundreds of unemployed youth were present at the event at Ramlila Maidan.
Below is a comparison between the viral video and video uploaded on YouTube.