With election dates surfacing near, certain claims are going viral to provoke the emotions of the public. A 2018 photo of a woman holding a placard at a protest against attacks on journalists in West Bengal has been edited to falsely claim that it is recent and has slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The caption refers to the campaign, “No Vote to BJP”, launched by a forum called “Bengal against Fascist RSS-BJP”. The forum has also set up social media pages on Facebook and Instagram with the same name as the campaign.
The text on the poster said, “No More HATHRAS! NO VOTE TO BJP! #NoVoteToBJP”.
Hathras, in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, has been in the news lately after the alleged molesters of a woman in the district were accused of shooting dead her father. Earlier in 2020, the alleged gangrape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl was also from the same place.
West Bengal assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27, 2021, to April 29, 2021 and the counting of votes will take place on May 2, 2021. The photo is being shared with the caption that reads, “NO VOTE TO BJP, clearly: NO Vote To BJP, Loudly: NO VOTE TO BJP #No Vote To BJP”
On doing a reverse image research of the viral picture, it was found that, the image was uploaded on 11 April 2018 and the caption said, “A woman seen holding a placard during the protest. Hundreds of journalists protest against the ruling party’s alleged attack on journalists across Bengal during Panchayat nomination coverage. The rally started at Mayo Road Mahatma Gandhi Statue and culminated at Dorina Crossing in Kolkata. Wearing black bands on arms and covering their mouths with black scarfs, hundreds of city’s journalists, cameramen, and photojournalists took part in the protest rally.” The original image from the protest said “Shut Camera” on the poster meanwhile the edited placard said, “No More HATHRAS! NO VOTE TO BJP! #NoVoteToBJP.” Hence, an image from a 2018 protest in Kolkata against an attack on journalists was edited to falsely claim that it showed a recent anti-BJP protest ahead of the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.
