A video showing the burning of an effigy of PM Modi is being circulated on social media and falsely labeled as a “Gen Z protest” in India. Pakistan-based propaganda accounts are sharing this footage, claiming that Gen Z-style demonstrations are spreading nationwide, involving the burning of the Prime Minister’s effigies and accusations of corruption and violence against the Indian Army and police.
A user shared the video with the caption: “India is about to collapse soon. Gen Z-style protests by India’s youth movement ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ are spreading across India, in which effigies of the Prime Minister are being burnt and the Indian Army and police are being targeted over corruption and violence. Gen Z Party has become India’s most popular movement.”
Fact Check:
The DFRAC team found during its investigation that the viral video is being shared with a false claim. The video is not recent; rather, it is from a protest held in Ara, Bihar, in January against the new UGC rules. While conducting a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes, we found the same video posted on an Instagram account, where it was identified as footage from a protest in Ara. According to the information provided in the post, while conducting a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes, we found the same video posted on an Instagram account, where it was identified as footage from a protest in Ara. The information in this post states “The UGC BILL regulations seek to replace the existing 2012 regulations with more stringent measures to ensure inclusion for students from marginalized backgrounds, particularly the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). The main aim is to stop caste-based discrimination and ensure equal treatment for everyone in colleges and universities. This created havoc amongst the ministers, MLA’s and officers under the BJP party . It has now become BJP vs BJP.”
During the investigation, we also found that the same video had previously been shared with claims linking it to protests against PM Modi over rising petrol and diesel prices. At that time, the DFRAC team had already fact-checked the video, which can be read here.
The team contacted Amarendra, a journalist associated with the local media platform Ara News. Amarendra confirmed that the viral video is indeed from Ara and is not recent. He stated that the footage dates back to January and shows the burning of an effigy of PM Modi at Chandwa Mor in Ara during protests against UGC regulations.
Meanwhile, the DFRAC team also contacted the Ara Police, who confirmed that no recent incident involving the burning of PM Modi’s effigy had taken place in Ara. The police also clarified that the viral video is old.
Conclusion:
DFRAC’s fact-check clearly establishes that the video being circulated on social media is not a recent video of protests in Ara, Bihar. The footage is from a protest held in January against UGC regulations. Therefore, the claim being shared by users is misleading.
