No, the person seen taking away the flag in this video is not a Muslim but the village head.
Claim
Sanauli in Panipat Haryana. The journey was going on peacefully, suddenly a special community attacked the Hindu brothers carrying the flag of Hanuman ji and snatched the flag and threw it on the ground.
Rating
Explanation
A video showing a procession where a man is seen taking a flag from a young boy is widely circulated to claim that the man is a Muslim and he attacked Hindus who carried the Hanuman flag, snatched the flag and threw it on the ground. The video is mentioned as Sanauli in Panipat Haryana.
The post is captioned in Hindi as “सनौली के पानीपत हरियाणा में | शांतिपूर्ण यात्रा गुजर रही थी अचानक विशेष समुदाय नेहनुमान जी का ध्वज ले जा रहे हिंदू भाईयो पर हमला कर दिया और ध्वज को छीन कर जमीन पर फेंक दिया”.
What is the truth?
When searching with relevant keywords we found that the man seen in the video is not a Muslim and that the incident has no communal angle. Amar Ujala reported the incident mentioning that the controversy regarding the flag during the tableau on Janmashtami happened in Sanauli Khurd village in Haryana.
A tableau was taken out by the villagers on Janmashtami. Some youth of Bajrang Dal came with the flag of Jai Shri Ram in the street near the madrassa of a community in the village. When village head Sanjay Tyagi took the flag from the hands of a Bajrang Dal youth, an altercation broke out and the dispute escalated.
In this case, Bajrang Dal members accused the Sarpanch (head of the village) of snatching the flag. Many members of Bajrang Dal filed a complaint at Sanauli Khurd police station accusing the Sarpanch of snatching the flag. Sarpanch Sanjay Tyagi gave a complaint on behalf of the Gram Panchayat at Sanauli Khurd police station. In this regard, investigating officer ASI Pradeep says that the matter is being investigated by higher officials.
Press Wire 18 reported that the Sarpanch Sanjay Tyagi took away the flag from two youths of Bajrang Dal due to the fear of a fight as the procession nears the mosque. He was expected to apologise for this act but he denied apologising stating that there is no point in apologising when the meeting is attended majorly by outsiders. This led Bajrang Dal members to file a collective complaint against him. Sarpanch Sanjay Tyagi mentioned that he did not snatch the flag but had taken the flag from the youths.
Conclusion
It is found that the video is of an altercation between Bajrang Dal youths and the Sarpanch (head of the village) Sanjay Tyagi. He feared of fight when the procession nears a mosque and as a result, he took away the flag from the youths who were raising religious slogans. This video is shared to falsely claim that the person taking away the flag is Muslim.
