Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Union home minister Amit Shah “arrogantly” throws garland at the statue of Lord Basaveshwara in Bengaluru
Fact
The video is from Amit Shah’s campaign for the 2018 Karnataka elections
Amid the campaign blitz by all major parties ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections, scheduled for May 10, a viral video purportedly shows Union home minister Amit Shah flinging a garland at a statue of Lord Basaveshwara (Basavanna), and missing it, evoking criticism from social media users for the “disrespectful” gesture towards the 12th century social reformer and Lingayat icon.
The archived versions of the tweets, including from verified Twitter handles, can be seen here, here and here.
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Fact check
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Amit Shah Basavanna garland miss”, which led us to multiple news reports from 2018.
According to a Times of India report, dated April 19, 2018, the incident happened during Amit Shah’s Karnataka election campaign, when the then BJP chief failed to garland the Basavanna statue at Chalukya Circle, Bengaluru. An India TV report, dated April 18, 2018, featuring the video, confirmed the same, stating that the incident happened in the run-up to the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections.
A comparison of the screenshots from the news reports and the viral video (right) proves that the clip is from 2018, considering the crane and Shah’s attire.
Here is a tweet, dated April 18, 2018, sharing a video of the incident from a different angle. A similar tweet can be seen here.
Conclusion
Amit Shah’s garland flinging incident at a Basavanna statue in Bengaluru is real, but it is not recent. The video was recorded and reported in 2018, and social media users are sharing it ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, mistaking it for a recent incident.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Times of India report, April 19, 2018
India TV report, April 18, 2018
Tweet by News9, April 18, 2018
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
