A cropped image of a signboard of Asansol Municipal Corporation (West Bengal) where the text of the civic body is written in three languages, English, Urdu and Hindi has surfaced with claims that the state government has given priority to Urdu, instead of Bengali.
The cropped photograph is doing the rounds on Twitter and Facebook, with netizens taking a dig at the Trinamool Congress run government for prioritising Urdu over Hindi and Bengali and also questioning the reason why other spoken languages of the state have not been included. One such tweet reads, ''Urdu comes before Hindi in Waste Bengal. In another 10-20 years, expect a Mullox CM, like Suhrawardy and Direct Action Day. History repeats itself. Learn from it A loud and clear message to all the sleeping Bengali Bhodroloks.''
Screenshot of the tweet with hoarding image of Asansol Municipal Corporation.
Two such posts are achieved here and here.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search on Facebook and found a Facebook Live of an Independence day celebration in the premises of the municipal corporation, by Jitendra Tiwari, mayor of Asansol corporation. At 11 second mark, we can see the same building with a board where Asansol Municipal Corporation is written in Bengali.
The video is captioned as, "LIVE: Flag hoisting at Asansol Municipal Corporation Main Office on the eve of Independence Day."
Below is the screenshot of the same.
In another Facebook post from September 8, which documents protest by civic health workers across the state, the building with both the signboards, featuring the name of the civic body in English, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu can be seen.
The image is archived here.
Another Facebook user also posted a photograph of the entire building to debunk the viral cropped image.
BOOM could not independently verify if the board seen in the viral cropped image was installed after August 15. We have reached out to Tiwari, and the article will be updated as and when he responds.