BJP Leader Thrashed By Public In UP During Election Campaigning? No, Viral Image Is From Rajasthan

A BJP MLA, Vikram Saini, recently faced public anger in Munwarpur village, where people forced him to leave the venue. In another incident, UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya went to Ghulamipur village of Sirathu assembly constituency on Saturday. There he had to face the opposition of women. The women were reportedly angry at the disappearance of Rajiv Maurya, husband of Zilla Panchayat member in Sirathu and police inaction in finding him. The angry women did not even allow the state's Deputy Chief Minister to enter their house.

Now a photo of a politician is viral on social media. In the viral image, a man can be seen wearing torn clothes, walking on the road, followed by policemen and the public. It is being claimed that the public beat up a BJP leader who went to seek votes in UP. While sharing this image, a Twitter user wrote in Hindi, "वोट माँगने जनता के बीच गए भाजपा नेता जी का हाल,योगी बाबा को मैसेज करके बताया कि मै ज़िंदा लौट कर आ गया हूँ."

[English Translation: Condition of the BJP leader who went to the public to ask for votes. He later messaged Yogi Baba and told him that I have come back alive.]

Another user wrote, "वोट माँगने जनता के बीच गए भाजपा नेता जी का हाल कह रहे थे उन्हें कहना मै ज़िंदा लौट कर आ गया हूँ."

[English Translation: The condition of the BJP leader who went to the public seeking votes. He was saying, tell them that I have come back alive.]

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Claim:

The public thrashed a BJP leader who went to seek votes in UP.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. The viral image is from July 2021.

We ran a google reverse image search and found this image in several media reports dated back to 31 July 2021. According to a report by AajTak, the man in the viral photo is BJP leader Kailash Meghwal. According to the news, farmers protesting against agricultural laws in Sriganganagar, Rajasthan, tore his clothes. Later, police lathi-charged to disperse the farmers. Meghwal had gone to Sriganganagar to participate in a protest organized by the district unit of BJP against the state government over inflation and the demand for water for irrigation.

We found news reports of NDTV, Times of India, Times Now etc., where similar images can be seen. According to the report of NDTV dated 31 July 2021, BJP leaders were protesting in Sriganganagar against the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan on many public interest issues. BJP's protest was going on near Central Jail. At the same time, farmers were protesting at Maharaja Ganga Singh Chowk against the three farm laws. During this, the state president of BJP SC Morcha, Kailash Meghwal, accidentally reached the protest site of the farmers. The farmers present on the site got furious after seeing the BJP's flag around Meghwal's neck and started raising slogans against Meghwal and BJP. Later he was manhandled by the farmers. He was safely rescued from there after some farmer leaders, and the police intervened.

We also found several video reports on this incident.

Our investigation shows that the viral image is from July 2021, when farmers protesting against the farm laws in Sriganganagar, Rajasthan, tore the clothes of a BJP leader named Kailash Meghwal. It has nothing to do with the upcoming UP elections. Hence, the viral claim is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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