Video from Bengal shared as BJP leaders chased away in Uttar Pradesh

Video originally shows an incident from 2021 during Bengal assembly elections when BJP leader Locket Chatterjee was chased away by people in Hooghly.

In the context of the upcoming general elections in Uttar Pradesh, a video showing a group of villagers chasing BJP leader Locket Chatterjee is widely circulating on social media claiming that the video shows how the villagers are treating official BJP candidates who are going to people’s houses asking for votes. The video has been shared over 7000 times.

The caption of the post takes a sarcastic dig on the BJP candidates by saying, “The people of Uttar Pradesh welcomed the official candidates of BJP who came to ask for votes is like this.”

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Fact Check-

We started our investigation by running a keyword search on YouTube, whose results led us to the video posted by Zee 24 Ghanta on 10 April 2021. One can see the watermark of Zee 24 Ghanta on the top right corner of the viral video. According to the description of the video, it shows Locket Chatterjee facing strong protests in Chuchura, as well as there was protests around Locket’s car. The video is said to be from during the Bengal Assembly Elections in 2021.

According to an India Today report BJP MP Locket Chatterjee’s car was attacked at Chunchura in Hooghly and bricks hurled at her car allegedly by Trinamool workers during the fourth phase of West Bengal assembly elections in April 2021.

Thus, it is clear that the viral video is not from Uttar Pradesh neither it is related to the upcoming elections in 2022. However, with the help of a simple keyword search we found news reports saying a BJP MLA was indeed chased away in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. The description of the video posted on 20 January in 2022 by NDTV stated, “A BJP MLA campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh election is chased away by villagers of his own constituency in Muzaffarnagar.” 

But it is clear that the viral video in question is not related to this incident. 

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the image to be partly false. The viral video does not show an incident from Uttar Pradesh where a BJP candidate was chased away and attacked by villagers during election campaigning. It originally shows an incident from 2021 during Bengal assembly elections when BJP leader Locket Chatterjee was chased away from Hooghly. However, it is also true that there have been incidents in Uttar Pradesh where the people have chased away BJP leaders on asking for votes. 

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