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.
A viral video, claiming to show an ‘Vijay Singh IAS’ bashing the western world for colonialism and their condescension to the countries in the ‘global south’ is being shared by several social media users on Facebook and WhatsApp. Newschecker has found that the video shows marxist historian and journalist Vijay Prashad speaking at the COP26 Coalition and not ‘IAS Officer Vijay Singh’.
The video bears the logo of COP26 Coalition, a UK-based civil society coalition of groups and individuals mobilising around climate justice, and starts with a delegate at an event addressing the man as ‘Vijay’, and asking for his response to the climate crisis and the assertion of the countries in the global north that everyone is fighting the same fight. He starts his answer by thanking the delegate for forcing him to come to Glasgow, and continues to highlight the atrocities of colonialism and need for climate justice.
The video has been shared by many people on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter claiming to show ‘Vijay Singh IAS’ lashing out at western powers on world statge.
Fact check/verification
To understand more about the viral video claiming to show ‘Vijay Singh IAS’, Newschecker began by conducting a keyword search of the words ‘COP26 Coalition’ on YouTube and found the same viral video that is being widely circulated.
The video is over 5 minutes long and was uploaded by the YouTube page of COP26 Coalition on November 10, 2021. The video shows the same interaction between the same delegate and the man he called Vijay in the beginning and shows the same speech as in the viral video. The video is titled ‘Vijay Prashard People’s Summit Speech from OUR TIME IS NOW #3’.
On looking up ‘Vijay Prashad’ on Twitter, Newschecker found the twitter profile of the person seen in the viral video, who went by the name Vijay Prashad and not Vijay Singh. Furthermore, Vijay Prasad identifies himself as the Director of Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and Editor of Leftword Books, which was founded by former CPI gen Secy Prakash Karat and reflects the views of the left and. A well known historian, Prashad has also authored 30 books.
On scanning his twitter page further, we found that several people had tagged him in tweets praising him for his speech at Glasgow, and we also found a tweet by another Twitter user who claimed that he had received the viral forward misidentifying Vijay Prashad as Vijay Singh IAS. Thus we understand that the man in the viral video is not Vijay Singh IAS but Vijay Prashad.
Tweeting out a packaged version of the same video, Prashad clarified that the WhatsApp messages indeed identified him as ‘Vijay Singh IAS’.
Conclusion
A video showing Indian marxist historian Vijay Prashad addressing the COP26 Collective has been misidentified by several people on social media platforms as Vijay Singh IAS.
Result: False Context
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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.
