2021 video from the Sirsa attack by an angry mob is falsely linked to Ashok Tanwar of the BJP!
Claim
The people of Sirsa sent BJP candidate Ashok Tanwar to the Lok Sabha today itself…
Rating
Explanation
With the Lok Sabha elections drawing near, both parties have been releasing several footage and images on the internet with disparaging remarks about one another.
Here, a 28-second video depicts a road with numerous passing cars, and during that time, we see people attempting to stop those cars with flags and sticks. A few police officers attempt to maintain order. We also observe that a police officer sends the car through in the middle of these without stopping it. Meanwhile, we notice that one car window seat has a red mark pointer embedded in it and is rounded. The location of Sirsa is also displayed on the screen.
This post is shared with a claim stating “The people of Sirsa sent BJP candidate Ashok Tanwar to the Lok Sabha today itself.” You can view similar claim posts here, here, and here.
BJP प्रत्याशी अशोक तंवर को सिरसा वालों ने आज ही लोकसभा में भेज दीया,, pic.twitter.com/n7J017A6Qk
— Mαɳιʂԋ Kυɱαɾ αԃʋσƈαƚҽ (@Manishkumarttp) April 10, 2024
What’s the truth?
Upon researching the keyframes of the viral video by using keywords like ‘Sirsa attack’ and Sirsa car attacks on road’ it took us to a YouTube video related to the incident on the News 24 channel. In Sirsa, Haryana, Deputy Speaker Ranbir Singh Gangwa’s car was attacked by farmers, according to a video that was posted on July 12, 2021.
Then we took that as a cue and started our analysis with a relevant keyword search on Google which led us to a news report from Amar Ujala.
The article titled “Attack on Assembly Deputy Speaker’s car: Government removed Sirsa SP, the case also registered against 100 farmers” was posted in July 2021. This means the viral video is 3 years old and not recent.
When we read the article we came to know that, the assault on the Assembly Deputy Speaker’s car in Sirsa has been closely monitored by the Haryana government, and action has been taken promptly. In CDLU, there was a meeting of the BJP executive. Farmers protested against BJP leaders by sitting on dharna at all three of CDLU’s gates since the morning while holding black flags.
The article went on to add, “After the meeting ended, the protesting farmers attacked the vehicle of the Assembly Deputy Speaker coming out of CDLU with sticks and stones. In the incident, both the glass mirrors of the Assembly Deputy Speaker’s car were broken. However, he narrowly escaped. During this, the farmers also scuffled with the police personnel. The police are now busy identifying anti-social elements with the help of CCTV cameras installed in the university and other videos and photos. A case has been registered against the protesting farmers.”
As we continued to search, we also came across a video of Ashok Tanwar himself addressing the viral attack video on his X page, on April 11, 2024, where he said that he had reported to the police, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and Election Commission on Wednesday to take legal action against those who were spreading fake news.
महत्वपूर्ण मुद्दे पर पत्रकार साथियों के साथ पत्रकार वार्ता https://t.co/uIN7QZDNh6
— Ashok Tanwar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Tanwar_Indian) April 11, 2024
All this information makes it clear that the viral video stating Ashok Tanwar was attacked by Sirsa is false and misleading.
Conclusion:
As a result, we conclude that Ashok Tanwar was not attacked by the Sirsa people, despite what has gone viral. Ashok Tanwar actually joined the BJP on January 20, 2024, having previously been a member of the Aam Aadmi Party; the incident has nothing to do with him and he has registered a case against the rumors.
