Video from Uttar Pradesh shared as fight between BJP members in Rajasthan

By: Rajini KG
October 13 2023

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Screenshot of viral video. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

Context 

Rajasthan's Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled for November 25, 2023, and the results will be announced on December 5, 2023, along with the results of four other Indian states. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of candidates on October 9, 2023, comprising 41 candidates.

Following this, a video of a man beating another man with footwear during a meeting was shared with the claim that disgruntled BJP members fought with each other after the list of candidates was released. This video was shared by a user on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption: “Godi (lapdog) Media didn't show this peaceful ticket distribution by BJP in Rajasthan.” (An arrchive can be found here.) The video first shows two men at a meeting arguing, and then one of them — the man wearing a red Nehru jacket — begins to hit the other man with his footwear. This video was also shared by Rajasthan Pradesh Congress General Secretary Jaswant Gurjar with a similar claim and an archive of the post can be found here.

Screenshot of viral video. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim is false because the video is from 2019, when a BJP MP was caught on camera thrashing an Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Uttar Pradesh.

Here are the facts

Through a reverse image search, we found that the video is old and not from Rajasthan. A longer version of this video was published by TV9 Bharatvarsh on its YouTube channel on March 6, 2019. It was titled: “BJP MP Sharad Tripathi attacks MLA Rakesh Baghel with shoes.” We can see the viral clip at the time stamp of 0:15 seconds.

The video of the incident published by TV9 Bharatvarsh in 2019. (Source: X/YouTube/Screenshot)

The news outlet Hindustan Times also posted the video from a different angle on its YouTube channel on March 6, 2019. The description reads that Sharad Tripathi, a BJP Lok Sabha MP representing the Sant Kabir Nagar constituency, and Rakesh Singh Baghel, a BJP MLA from Mehdawal, got into a physical altercation during an official meeting in Uttar Pradesh on March 6, 2019. The Quint journalist Piyush Rai also shared clips of the incident on his X account in 2019.

A comparison of the viral video and social media posts sharing the same video in 2019 (Source: Screenshot/YouTube/X/PiyushRai)

NDTV said the incident occurred at a district coordination meeting in the Sant Kabirnagar area. The altercation started when Tripathi questioned why his name wasn't on the foundation stone for a local road in Mehdawal city. The argument between the two escalated, after which Tripathi struck the MLA with his shoe. Later, the police officers at the meeting intervened and stopped the brawl, the report added.

The verdict

An old video of a brawl between a BJP MP and a BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh has been falsely shared as party members in Rajasthan fighting over election tickets. Therefore, we mark this claim as false.