Update (28 August 2023):
Social media users are now sharing the same video that was debunked below attributing it to situation of roads in Chandrayangutta, Hyderabad. However, as explained below, the video was made by street artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy in September 2019 to highlight the problem of potholes in Herohalli, Bengaluru
Published (05 September 2023):
A video of a person wearing an astronaut suit and walking in a pothole-ridden road is being widely shared claiming that the visuals show the pathetic condition of the roads in Jammu and Kashmir. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of a person wearing an astronaut suit and walking on a pothole-ridden road in Jammu and Kashmir.
Fact: According to several news reports, this video was made by street artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy in September 2019 to highlight the problem of potholes in Herohalli, Bengaluru. It is not related to the road conditions in Jammu and Kashmir. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
We ran a reverse image search of the keyframes extracted from the viral video and came across several media reports published by Indian Express, NDTV and ETV Bharat about this incident in 2019. According to these reports, in September 2019, Baadal Nanjundaswamy, a popular street artist from Bengaluru, decided to make the actor Poornachandra Mysore ‘moonwalk’ down the roads of Herohalli, Bengaluru to draw the attention of civic bodies to the problem of potholes.
Taking a cue from this, we found the original post shared by Baadal Nanjundaswamy on Twitter. The video went viral and concerned authorities were forced to act immediately to solve the problem. An interview of Baadal with India Today can be seen here. In the past, Baadal created several street arts to highlight various social issues.
Additionally, we found that potholes, on average, claimed 2,300 lives annually from 2016 to 2020, according to Government data.
To sum it up, a sarcastic video made to highlight the problem of Potholes in Bengaluru is shared linking it to Jammu and Kashmir
