Is this an image of BJP supporters protesting in front of Canara Bank mistaking it to be Canada? Know the truth. 

After the assassination of Khalistani separatists in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of having a hand in the murder. On the other hand, the Ministry of External Affairs called this accusation absurd. Canada expelled an Indian diplomat posted in Ottawa. In response to this, India expelled a Canadian diplomat based in New Delhi.

In the backdrop of this, an image of a few people standing in front of Canara Bank and holding the BJP flag is going viral on social media. Social media users are making fun of them saying that these people thought of Canara Bank as Canada.

However, Fact Crescendo found that the image had been altered. The real image is from the year 2020 and has no connection with the current dispute between Canada and India.

What’s the claim?

Sharing the image, social media users are claiming that BJP supporters mistook Canara Bank as Canada and protesting in front of it.

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This image started getting viral after former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad tweeted it. Below you can see his tweet.

Canara बैंक को Canada समझ कर
उसके सामने प्रदर्शन करते भाजपा के
Sanghis pic.twitter.com/oGpJ6xanjB

— Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzaad) September 24, 2023

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Fact Check-

A Google Reverse Image Search led us to the same image published on a Tamil news website on 30 August 2020. According to the report, this image is from the Nilgiris region of Ooty. BJP had planted a flagpole to hoist their party flag on a municipality-owned land. After filing a complaint at the Ooty City Central Police Station, Municipality staff along with the police removed the flagpole as it was planted without permission. As a result of this, the BJP party members held a protest in the region.

In the above image, it can be clearly seen that there is no hoarding or board of Canara Bank. So, it can be concluded that the real image was edited and the Canara bank board was added to the real image. We also found that the image of Canara Bank board is very clear in comparison to the rest of the blurry background.

Below you can see the comparison between the viral and real image.

Conclusion:

Fact Crescendo found that the viral image was altered. In the real image there was no Canara Bank. The real image is of an incident of BJP members protesting in Ooty in 2020 after municipality removed a flagpole which was supposed to hoist BJP party flag.