By: Ankita Kulkarni
April 25 2024
Inverted Tricolor at Priyanka Gandhi's Bengaluru rally? No, the video is old
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Screenshot of viral posts on social media platforms. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
We could trace the video back to at least 2023 and found that it was shot in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
Claim ID 226348c3
What is the claim?
A 27-second clip showing election posters on electricity poles along the divider of a road has been shared on social media platforms with a claim that it shows banners put up for Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s rally in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
A voiceover in the video in Kannada narrates, "Priyanka Gandhi's banners show an inverted tricolor flag at her feet. Is this being done deliberately or is it just foolishness? The public is asking — how can we expect these people to run the country when they don't even understand the tricolor flag."
One such user (archived here) on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, "Upcoming Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra rally posters in Bengaluru show Indian flag upside down, with green on top, video goes viral (sic)." The post had garnered close to 82,000 views at the time of writing this story. Multiple users have widely shared the clip and archived versions can be found here, here, and here.
This video was shared just a day before Priyanka’s Gandhi rally in Bengaluru on April 23, 2024, ahead of the second phase of voting for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 26.
Screenshot of viral posts on social media platforms. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, the video is old and captured in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is unrelated to Priyanka Gandhi’s recent rally in Bengaluru.
What did we find?
A reverse image search on a screenshot from the viral clip led us to a post shared on X (archived here) dated June 12, 2023. This shows that the video predates the Bengaluru rally held on April 23, 2024.
We could also find the video posted on Facebook (archived here) by Madhya Pradesh Minister of Labour Department, Prahlad Singh Patel, on June 12, 2023. The caption, in Hindi, roughly translates to, “Indian National Congress — Madhya Pradesh starts elections with inverted tricolor?” Elections in Madhya Pradesh were held in November 2023.
In this video, we can hear a person saying 'Gwarighat Road'. Taking this as a hint, we geolocated Gwarighat Road and found it to be in Jabalpur, a city in Madhya Pradesh.
We found a building named “ELISA” on Google Maps, which can also be seen at 0:06 seconds in the viral clip.
Comparison between the clip and Google Maps. (Source: X/Google Maps/Screenshot)
At 0:15 seconds in the viral clip, we can observe another building with a red signboard. We geolocated this store and found that it is a store named “Om Men's Wear (written in Hindi)” on Gwarighat Road in Jabalpur.
Comparison between the clip and Google Maps. (Source: X/Google Maps/Screenshot)
Further, in the original clip, we can hear traffic, while the viral clip has a clear narration in Kannada. This indicates that the audio has been overlaid.
We also found a report published by Nai Dunia, a local media outlet in Madhya Pradesh, on June 12, 2023, which included a screenshot of the banner as seen in the viral clip. The report added the BJP had also filed an FIR against the Congress party, alleging that the hoardings insulted the tricolor.
The verdict
An old video showing Priyanka Gandhi’s banners in Madhya Pradesh is incorrectly linked to her recent rally in Bengaluru. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.