Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim: The fight among the BJP leaders has started coming out. Shivraj Singh called the Scindia family a traitor.
Fact: The video is old and is being falsely linked to the current developments.
Will Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the four-time chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, really form a separate party with Vasundhara Raje Scindia? Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal recently gave birth to this new speculation. Another source claims, Chouhan is being considered as a potential BJP candidate from Vidisha in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Now a 1 minute 25 seconds long video showing compilation of the remarks of former MP CM and another man, presumably a BJP leader, where they can be seen attacking the Scindia family as ‘friends of the British’ and ‘traitors to Indians’, is circulating on social and with a caption, “The fight among the BJP has started coming out. Shivraj Singh called Scindia a traitor.”
Sharing the video on X, a user @Nainasi70242074 wrote, “Scindia, the friend of the British”.
Archived versions of such claims can be seen here and here.
Fact Check/ Verification
We noticed that the video was a compilation of three separate videos that were edited together. At first, we ran a reverse image search on the keyframe corresponding to the part where Chouhan can be heard saying, “After the independence struggle was unsuccessful, the British allied with the Scindias, both imposed severe oppression on us.”
The reverse image search led us to a similar video posted on the official YouTube channel of ABP News on April 3, 2017, with the caption, “MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan stuck in his own comment on Scindias stir controversy.” At around the 30-second mark of that video, we found the same clip used in that viral video.
ABP News also shared the same video on their official Facebook page the same day.
We then ran a reverse image search on the keyframe of the clip where the man in the saffron turban can be heard attacking the Scindia family.
The reverse image search led us to a similar clip posted on the official Facebook page of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on November 20, 2020, also an ABP News report. Posting the clip, the congress leader wrote in Hindi, “Scindia, the friend of the British, had betrayed the country in 1857 and today again Scindia, a friend of the BJP, has betrayed the Congress in 2020 and He sold the public’s votes. Now on November 3, the public will teach them such a lesson that they will never be able to betray anyone even in their dreams again.”
Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress with several supporters to join the BJP in March 2020. Subsequently, on November 3, 2020, a by-election was held for the 28 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. A day before this crucial election, Digvijay Singh shared a video on his Facebook page, launching a scathing attack on the Scindia family.
However, we could not find many details on the first clip used in the viral video.
Conclusion
Thus, we conclude that the viral video is old, and not linked to the recent speculations about Shivraj SIngh Chouhan splitting away from the party.
Result: False
Sources
The video posted on the official YouTube channel of ABP News on April 3, 2017
The Video posted on the official Facebook page of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on November 20, 2020
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Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
