CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s Viral Video Reveals Pothole-Ridden Roads in Assam During BJP Rule, Not From His Predecessor’s Era

Claim: Viral video contrasts pothole-filled roads before BJP era with infrastructure developments under BJP rule in Assam.

Fact: The portion of the video that shows the pathetic road conditions in Assam is actually from the BJP era.

During the election season, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma recently shared a comprehensive document highlighting the developmental achievements of the BJP government on social media. 

On April 25, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma took his X handle to share a 27-second video supposedly to show the contrasting visuals of development during the BJP rule and poor infrastructure from his predecessor’s time. The viral clip in the initial few seconds shows cars plying on potholes-ridden roads. The caption of this part of the video reads, “Assam roads then”. The other portion of the video clip shows swanky roads, highways and bridges with the caption “ Assam roads now”. Posting the video CM Himanta Biswa Sharma wrote, “Assam’s roads – Before and after Modi Government”. (Archive Link)

Fact Check/ Verification

At first, we found that in the reply section of Himanta Biswa Sharma’s post, some users have claimed that the road shown in the viral video is not from the pre-BJP era. 

Following these suspicions, Newschecker tried to search for the date of the registration of those cars seen in the first part of the video. After investigation, it was found that some portions of Himanta Biswa Sarma’s viral video were altered, resulting in a mirrored reflection of the car number plates.

The first vehicle under investigation, an orange car, bore the licence plate number ‘AS01DT6808’. The registration date of the car seen in the video is August 2, 2018. 

The licence plate numbers of the second and the third cars are ‘AS01JC4711’ and “AS01EP3464”. Registration dates are respectively February 14, 2018 and December 1, 2020.

At the 5-second mark of the video, a Hyundai Grand i10 Nios car is clearly visible. Notably, this model was initially introduced in the Indian market in 2019.

Per the news, in 2016, BJP got its first government in Assam headed by Sarbananda Sonowal.

Conclusion

Thus it is safe to conclude that the portion of the viral video that shows poor road conditions is not from the pre-BJP era but during the BJP regime in Assam.

Result: Partly False

Source
Newschecker’s own investigation
Report by Economic Times, dated August 20, 2019
Report by Hindu, dated May 24, 2016