The West Bengal Assembly elections are set to take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, 2026, for the 294-member Legislative Assembly. In this context, a video is circulating on social media that depicts a group of individuals chasing and attacking a man with sticks. It is claimed that the man being assaulted is Nazrul Islam, a worker for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), who allegedly threatened Hindus in Murshidabad regarding their voting and was subsequently attacked by local residents.
Let’s check the truth
Fact check:
Our investigation began with a reverse image search on Google, and the results led us to a similar video uploaded on X in June 2022. The caption of the post states, “Locals beat violent mob who tried to shut shops in Banaras. #Agnipath #Agniveer.” This indicates that the viral video is old and not related to the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Using these hints, we conducted further searches and found a 2022 video report by Navbharat Times that featured the same visuals and identified the location as Varanasi. According to the report, some protesters were trying to forcibly shut shops, after which shopkeepers beat them up.
On closely examining the viral video, a signboard visible in the video reads “Telephone Colony, Nagar Nigam, Varanasi,” further confirming the location. We confirmed that a colony with this name exists in Varanasi with the help of Google Maps.
Moving forward, we found media reports by Amar Ujala and Zee Bihar-Jharkhand regarding these incidents. The Agnipath scheme protests in June 2022 saw significant unrest in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, with agitators vandalizing public property and protesting against the new short-term military recruitment model. The protests were triggered by the launch of the Agnipath scheme, which introduced a four-year, short-term contract for armed forces personnel, with only 25% retained, raising concerns among youth about job stability and lack of pension.
So, based on all this evidence, we can understand that an old video of protest-related clashes from Varanasi is being shared as a communal incident in West Bengal ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. This video from 2022 shows a clash between protesters against the Agnipath scheme and local shopkeepers in Varanasi. It is unrelated to West Bengal.
Title: 2022 video from Varanasi falsely shared linking to West Bengal elections
Fact Check By: Usha Manoj
Result: False
