Multiple posts (here, here, here and here) accompanied by a video showing several people attacking a car are being widely shared across social media platforms. The claim accompanying the video suggests that it depicts a recent incident of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sirsa candidate Ashok Tanwar’s car being attacked. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the posts.
Claim: Video depicting the convoy of BJP Sirsa candidate Ashok Tanwar being attacked by people.
Fact: The viral video dates back to 2021 and depicts an attack on Haryana Deputy Speaker Gangwa’s car by protestors. Following the video’s circulation, Ashok Tanwar reported the matter to the police, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Election Commission, urging legal action against those spreading fake news. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon careful observation of the viral video clip, we noticed that “Bharat News” and “PB News” are written in the top right corner. Using these clues, we conducted a relevant keyword search on YouTube. This search led us to a longer version (archived link) of the viral video uploaded on a channel named ‘Pahredar Bharat News’ on 11 July 2021, with the title: “Big news – Sirsa CDLU arrival proved costly for Deputy Speaker, farmers broke Ranbir Gangwa’s car” (translated from Hindi to English).
Further, we also found a video report by ‘Punjab Kesari Haryana’, dated 11 July 2021, showing similar visuals of an attack on Haryana deputy Speaker Gangwa’s car by protesting farmers. Based on all this information, it is evident that the viral video depicts an attack on Haryana Deputy Speaker Gangwa’s car by protestors in the year 2021.
To gather more information about this incident, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet that led us to several reports (here, here, here & here). According to these reports, Haryana Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa’s car was allegedly attacked by farmers in July 2021. The reports mentioned that Ranbir Gangwa was in Sirsa to participate in a BJP executive committee meeting. Additionally, these reports highlighted that the protest was against the farm laws introduced by the central government at the time. Protesters attacked Gangwa’s vehicle as he was leaving after the meeting, smashing the rear windscreen with stones. The Sirsa police had booked around 100 people and arrested five individuals in connection with the case.
We also came across a video of Ashok Tanwar himself addressing the viral attack video on his X (Twitter), on 11 April 2024, where he said that he had reported to the police, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and Election Commission to take legal action against those who were spreading fake news. He accused the Congress party’s youth wing, the National Students Union of India (NSUI), and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of spreading the video. News reports regarding this press meet can be seen here and here.
To sum up, a 2021 video showing protestors attacking the Haryana deputy speaker is falsely shared as an attack on BJP Sirsa candidate Ashok Tanwar.
