Fact Check : Video of a mob thrashing a poster of Kangana Ranaut with slippers is old and misleading.

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut is getting trolled regularly on social media after her controversial statement at the media summit which said that ” India got true freedom only in 2014″ on November 10, 2021. Several hashtags were trending in her name since then.

Table 1: Hashtags that trended in the name of Kangana Ranaut

This was the time frame (from November 11, 2021 to November 14, 2021) when different videos and posts involving Kangana Ranaut went viral on social media.

Viral 1:

In one of the videos that went viral, it was seen that the mob was thrashing slippers on the poster of Kangana Ranaut. It went viral on both Facebook and Twitter on November 13, 2021. The description attached to the video read, “Huge resentment among the people of the country against #KanganaRanaut”

Copy paste pattern was seen on Facebook. On Facebook, different accounts posted the same video with the same description “Desh ki janta ne Kangana Ranaut ko jute chappal se pita….”.

Fact Check:

After doing a reverse search by taking smaller frames from the video, it was found that the video is more than a year old. This was posted by City Headlines News on September 4, 2020 with the description, “Kangana Ranaut ke khilaaf Shiv Sena Maidan mei, photo par chappal barsaye” which translates to “Shiv Sena thrashed Kangana Ranaut’s poster with slippers “. The video pertains to the incident when women activists of Thane-based wing of Shiv Sena in Mumbai, Anand Math, protested after actress Kangana Ranaut’s statement that the situation in Mumbai is like that of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and she is afraid to stay in Mumbai.

Hence, the viral video of Kangana’s poster being thrashed by mob is old and misleading.

Viral 2:

A screenshot of a tweet from the account of President of India was viral on 17 November 2021 in which it was written that “कंगना रनौत द्वारा की गई टिप्पणी देश की भावनाओं को आहत करने वाली है, मै स्वयं उन्हें पद्म पुरस्कार दिए जाने के लिए शर्मिंदगी महसूस कर रहा हूं! मेरी सरकार श्री @narendramodi से विनती है कि मुझे पुरस्कार वापस लेने की अनुमति दी जाए।“ which on translation reads “The comment made by Kangana Ranaut is hurting the sentiments of the nation, I myself feel ashamed to be given the Padma award! My government requests Shri @narendramodi to allow me to withdraw the award.”

This tweet went viral on Facebook. Many accounts like Harinarayan Kumar and Kumar Bhavya used this tweet in their posts.

Fact Check:

On analyzing the tweet by checking the username (@rashtrptibhvn)mentioned on the viral tweet and comparing it with the original username of President of India, which was found to be (@rashtrapatibhvn).

It was clear that the tweet that is viral is not posted by India’s President but by the fake account in his name, which has now been suspended.

Hence, the screenshot of the tweet is fake. No such statement has been posted by President of India of taking back the Padma Shri Award from Kangana Ranaut.

Viral 3:

Similarly, as above, a screenshot of a tweet purportedly shared by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray praising Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut while putting down Kareena Kapoor Khan is being shared across social media platforms.

Fact Check:

On analyzing the username of the above, and comparing it with the original account of Raj Thackeray, it was clear the tweet was being done by fake account.

Hence, no such statement has been posted by Raj Thackeray, in which he is praising Kangana Ranaut and demeaning Kareena Kapoor. The viral screenshot is fake and misleading.

Beware of such fake accounts which are created in the name of famous personalities to manipulate the mind of common man and create the impression in their mind that particular thing has been posted by that famous person.