A video purporting to show that Pakistan's national flag was waved at a victory rally of the Indian National Congress (Congress) party in Rajasthan, is false and has been debunked by state police too.
The video went viral after the election results for the states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Telangana were declared on December 11, 2018.
The video is viral with a text in Hindi that loosely translates to, 'After Congress's victory, Pakistan's flag was waved. Naive Hindus you will regret this in future.' ("कांग्रेस की जीत पे पाकिस्तान का झंडा लहराते हुए मूर्ख हिन्दूओ भविष्य मे बहुत पछताओगे।")
The video was sent to BOOM on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 7700906111) by one of our readers.
[video data-width="320" data-height="568" mp4="https://www.boomlive.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/congress-rally-video.mp4"][/video]
When we searched for the video with the same text on Facebook and Twitter we found many netizens sharing the video with the same narrative.
Click here for the archived version of the post.
जिन्होंने राजस्थान में कांग्रेस को वोट दिया है ये वीडियो देखो👇👇#कॉंग्रेस की जीत पे पाकिस्तान का झंडा लहराते हुए
मूर्ख हिन्दुओ भविष्य मे बहुत पछताओगे
अच्छा किया तमू लोग अपने पैर मे कुल्हाड़ी मार के😂😂😜😜#RajasthanElections2018#HappyBirthdayThalaiva
— Ѕциїг ⏺ (@isunil1992) December 12, 2018
In the video, a man is heard in the background saying, "Look how a Pakistani flag is being waved at this Congress rally. Congress waving a Pakistani Flag. This is a report from Tiwari. I am ashamed to say this to the Hindi brothers in the rally, have some shame for voting for them."
Taking a closer look at the video, we were able to find several clues which helped us figure out that the video is from Rajasthan. At 18 seconds in the video, a jeep with a number plate beginning with the letters 'RJ' can be seen indicating that the vehicle is from Rajasthan.
The video also has a building in the background where the word 'Vidhyalaya' can be seen indicating the building is a school or college.
While the name of the school is not clearly visible in the video, by viewing it multiple times we were able to guess the name of the school. (राजकीय आदर्श उच्च माध्यमिक विद्यालय,तिंवरी।)
We searched for the school on Google and Facebook and found a Facebook page with the same name as that of the school.
The Facebook page's profile picture has a building and the structure of the building is same as that visible in the video. Click here to view the page.
The structure of the entrance is the same as that seen in the video and the name of the school which is not fully visible in the video is also the same. Moreover, the gates at the entrance are similar.
The video is viral with a narrative that Pakistani flag was waved at a Congress rally. But the flags in the video have two white straps and a dome-like structure in the middle, none of which exists on Pakistan's flag. The flag looks similar to those carried by Muslims during Milad-un-nabi.
Below is an image of the country's flag.
Moreover, Rajasthan Police tweeted on Wednesday alerting netizens that the video circulating on social media claiming that there was a Pakistan flag waved at a victory procession of the Congress party is false. The tweet further said that police are trying to trace the person who made the video.
Alert 🚫🔊
This video 📽️ circulating on #socialmedia claims that there is a Pakistan flag being waved in a victory procession of @INCIndia.
This is false and we request people not to get trapped by this ❌. We are trying to trace the mischief-maker.#FakeNews @SMHoaxSlayer pic.twitter.com/WDnABuJx2M
— Rajasthan Police (@PoliceRajasthan) December 12, 2018