A video purporting to show a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders being thrashed by the public while campaigning is viral online as a recent incident from Tamil Nadu.
BOOM found that the incident took place in Odisha and shows a clash between two groups of BJP leaders in October 2023.
The video shows a group of people campaigning on a platform when one man is dragged below and thrashed by the group. His kurta is ripped apart by the group who continue to beat him.
A caption on X reads, "Recent incident from Tamil Nadu- BJP, RSS' antinational politicians were dragged from the stage and beaten naked. This will happen in the whole country now."
(Original text in Hindi: "तमिलनाडु में अभी-अभी घटना हुई हैं 😊 भाजपा Rss के देशद्रोही नेताओं को रथ से नीचे उतार कर नंगा कर के पीटा और दौड़ाया 😂 ऐसा माहौल पूरे देश में बनने जा रहा हैं 😂👌🏻😂")
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The video is also being shared on X with a similar caption.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the claims are false, the video is from October 2023 and shows a scuffle between BJP leaders in Balangir, Odisha.
We scanned the comments under the viral video and found that a user had pointed out that the video was from Odisha, not Tamil Nadu.
A user on X had also replied to one post sharing the viral video on the platform and said that it was from Balangir, Odisha, and showed two BJP factions clashing.
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Taking a hint from this, we ran a keyword search on Google regarding the incident and found a report by local news outlet Kalinga TV published on October 9, 2023. The visuals in this report resembled the viral video and the article stated that the incident took place near the RTO chowk in Balangir.
According to the report, BJP Odisha's state president Manmohan Samal and MP Sangeeta Singh Deo was rallying in the area when two other members Anant Das and Balram Singh Yadav tried to offer them a bouquet of flowers. They were reportedly stopped from doing this by BJP leader Gopalji Panigrahi, after which a scuffle ensued between them.
Reports published by Odisha Bytes and The New Indian Express stated that the incident occurred during the 'Mo Mati Mo Desha' programme organised by the BJP. Gopalji Panigrahi had later filed an FIR at a local police station, and sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Tofan Bag confirmed the incident took place in that area. However, Manmohan Samal had dismissed the incident and claimed that nothing untoward happened during the rally.
