Verification of Information: 2022 Video of Protest Against Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Passed Off as Current
FINAL VERDICT: DECEPTIVE
The film, which was shot in January 2022, depicts a demonstration that the local ladies of Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh, organized. That has nothing to do with the Lok Sabha elections.
Specifically, what is the claim?
In the current Lok Sabha elections, up to 49 parliamentary seats throughout India, including Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh (UP), will cast ballots in the fifth round on May 20. Ahead of election day, a video purporting to show women demonstrating and chanting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is making the rounds on social media. It says he recently encountered “public opposition” in Kaushambi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maurya is surrounded by individuals in the viral video, some of whom are women, while she responds to comments such as “Keshav Maurya Chor Hai (Keshav Maurya is a thief).” Additionally, he is seen attempting to calm down the demonstrators.
The video, which is stored here, was posted on X (previously Twitter) by IP Singh, a spokesman for the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP). He captioned it, saying, “Keshav Prasad Maurya and Vinod Sonkar immediately ran away from the guest house upon seeing the protest.” The BJP had to fight hard to win even ten seats in UP.” Similar posts may be read here and here in their archived forms. (Sonkar represents Kaushambi as the current member of parliament.)
Nevertheless, we discovered that the film is not current and has nothing to do with the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. The footage dates back to January 2022.
RESULTS: WHAT HAVE WE FOUND?
We found a video that news broadcaster TV9 Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand posted on YouTube (archived here) on January 23, 2022, thanks to a Google search. Similar to the viral film, this video’s caption claimed that ladies in Keshav Prasad Maurya’s Sirathu seat opposed the UP Deputy Chief Minister during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Additionally, we located an article that Dainik Bhaskar published on January 23, 2022, and it had the exact same images as the viral video. The source said that Maurya made his first visit to Ghulamipur village in his constituency after his announcement of his candidacy for the Sirathu assembly seat, which is situated in the Kaushambi district, for the UP state elections. According to the report, when Maurya arrived in Ghulamipur to meet with the locals, some ladies shut the doors of their homes while others sang anti-Maurya chants. It was also stated that Maurya had signaled to the ladies to stop talking before his security guards led them out. People carried on yelling in Hindi phrases like “Keshav Maurya is a thief” even after he left.
According to Dainik Bhaskar’s account, Maurya was also paying a visit to Poonam Maurya, a member of the Sirathu District Panchayat, whose husband Rajeev Maurya had vanished under suspicious circumstances. When the deputy chief minister came, the women present had started to demonstrate against police intervention in the case and were yelling anti-chief minister chants.
The information above was confirmed by many additional media agencies, including Prabhat Khabar, News18 Uttar Pradesh, and Navbharat Times, which also reported on the event that occurred in January 2022.
SOURCE AND CREDIT: TV9
Additionally, we discovered that on May 15, 2024, Maurya organized a rally in Sirathu to support BJP Lok Sabha candidate Vinod Sonkar. But we didn’t find any instances of individuals heckling him or chanting during the demonstration.
VERDICT
The widely shared video shows ladies yelling at Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya during an early 2022 incident. It has nothing to do with the current Lok Sabha elections. As a result, the assertion has been flagged as deceptive.
