A year old video of a man delivering a speech at an anti-CAA protest site in Delhi's Mustafabad is viral on social media with false and communal captions claiming that he is the owner of 'Himalaya company'.
BOOM found that the man seen in the viral video is an advocate Bhanu Pratap Singh based in Delhi.
The viral video shows a man speaking from a dais. People around him can be seen holding placards with slogans 'reject CAA, NPR, NRC' written over them. Speaking in Hindi, the man tells the crowd to shift from Jio numbers to other service providers. He can be heard appealing to the people to 'break the spine of Reliance' company.
In our earlier fact checks of fake claims around the Himalaya Drug Company, we had found that the company's founder Mohammed Manal had died in 1986. Read here.
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The 2.20 minute long video is mostly a tirade against Reliance and Patanjali. The viral post is being shared with a Hindi caption that translates to 'This Mulla is the owner of Himalaya company. There's still time, listen to his speech and be alert. They make beauty products from ayurvedic medicines... from Liv52 syrup to Himalaya neem, tulsi and hand sanitiser. Share it in groups and stop buying. They will come on knees. There are many options'.
(Hindi: ये मुल्ला Himalaya कम्पनी का मालिक है , वक्त है इसके भाषण को सुनिए विचार कीजिए और सतर्क हो जाइए , आयुर्वेदिक मेडिसिन से ब्यूटि प्रॉडक्ट्स बनाता है liv52 syrup se lekar himaliya neem 🌿tulsi aur hand sensitiser tak सभी ग्रूप में डालिए और ख़रीदना बंद कीजिए खुद व खुद घुटने पर आ जाएगा बहुतो ऑप्शनस है ।)
View the video below.
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The same video has been shared from multiple Facebook pages with similar captions.
BOOM also received the video on its helpline and tipline numbers for verification.
Fact Check
The top right corner of the viral video has a logo of 'Times Express Voice of Democracy'. We found that Times Express.. is a verified YouTube channel with over 1.74 million subscribers.
Since the video appears to be from around the time of anti-CAA protests, we did a keyword search with relevant words and found a longer version of the same video uploaded on the channel on January 25, 2020 with a Hindi title which translates to 'Stop saying Hindustani - Bhanu Pratap Singh created an uproar amid Muslims regarding CAA'.
(Hindi: हिंदुस्तानी कहना बंद करो - भानु प्रताप सिंह! CAA पर मुसलमानों के बीच मचाया तहलका)
The description with the 12-minute long original video on the channel says that advocate Bhanu Pratap Singh was addressing the anti-CAA protesters at Mustafabad in Delhi.
The viral portion has been clipped off from the time stamp of 4.39 minutes.
BOOM did a keyword search with the words 'advocate Bhanu Pratap Singh' and found several other videos of the same man speaking on various issues. We also found Twitter and Facebook accounts in his name which mention him as an advocate based in Delhi.
Himalaya Company Claim
In the course of our earlier fact checks we found that Mohammed Manal, Himalaya's founder, had passed away in 1986, according to the information provided on the company's website.
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BOOM has reached out to Bhanu Pratap Singh and the report will be updated once we receive a response.
