Old Video of BJP Workers Burning Party Flags in Manipur Shared as Recent Public Outrage amidst Violence

The video of two Kuki women being paraded naked and molested by a group of men in Manipur has led to widespread outrage across the nation. The violence between the ethnic groups of Kuki and Meitei in the state has manifested itself in such an ugly fashion, leaving citizens numb.

Manipur Police has clarified that the incident had taken place in May, and an FIR was registered, following which one of the accused has been nabbed. However, one of the survivors seen in the video has leveled serious allegations on the Manipur Police. While speaking to the Indian Express, the survivor alleges that the Police threw her and other victims to the rabid mob.

Netizens are expressing outrage on Twitter using #tags like #Manipur, #नरेंद्र_मोदी_इस्तीफा_दो, etc. Among these, some users are sharing a video in which a group of people can be seen burning BJP’s flags. You can see one such tweet below:

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The above tweet claims that Manipuris are now burning the flags of BJP as a mark of protest against its rule. When we investigated this video, we found that the video is not related to the current Manipur issue. Here is the fact-check.

Fact Check

We used In-Vid We Verify tool to separate key frames of the viral video. The screenshots thus obtained were subjected to Reverse Image Search on Google. The search results showed that the video is old and is not related to the current situation in Manipur. The official account of Congress Seva Dal had tweeted this video last year during the assembly elections in Manipur.

Thus, the video is not recent but over a year old. The tweet posted on 30 January 2022 says, “Revolt in BJP Manipur after BJP announces list of candidates for assembly elections. [sic]” We searched for more news on this issue. We found many media reports corroborating the fact that the video is indeed a year old. The BJP workers burned the flags of the party and raised slogans against the leadership after being denied tickets to contest the Manipur assembly elections. 

Read full article here – Ukhrul Times | Archived Link

As per the report, BJP released the list of candidates to contest elections in Manipur on the Party’s ticket last year. The list had omitted names of many intending candidates and even three sitting MLAs. Many of the candidates who were dropped, switched their political affiliations while some resorted to protest. The incident seen in the viral video is from one of these protests. 

Conclusion

Thus, the viral video claimed to be public outrage against BJP in Manipur after recent violence is actually old. The video has been shared out of context as the incident depicted in the video took place last year when BJP workers protested against the party after being denied tickets to contest the assembly elections.