Video showing a clash between opposition and ruling MLAs in the U.P. Assembly on 21 October 1997, during a confidence vote, is being shared with false claims
A video circulating on social media (here, here) shows members inside a legislative hall attacking each other with microphones, microphone stands, chairs, table tops, shoes, and sandals. The post is being shared with the claim that the visuals show members inside the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on 16 December 1993, shortly after Mulayam Singh Yadav assumed charge as Chief Minister on 04 December 1993, and that Samajwadi Party legislators assaulted BJP MLAs inside the House and chased them out. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows Samajwadi Party legislators attacking BJP MLAs inside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on 16 December 1993, soon after Mulayam Singh Yadav became Chief Minister.
Fact: The viral video does not show Samajwadi Party legislators attacking BJP MLAs on 16 December 1993. The footage is from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on 21 October 1997, during a trust vote faced by the BJP government led by Kalyan Singh. At that time, the BJP was in power, Kalyan Singh was Chief Minister, and Mulayam Singh Yadav was not in office. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A Google search using relevant keywords did not yield any credible news reports or official records supporting the claim that Samajwadi Party legislators attacked BJP MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on 16 December 1993, shortly after Mulayam Singh Yadav became Chief Minister.
We then conducted a reverse image search of key frames from the viral video, which led to multiple videos (here, here) with similar visuals uploaded on the Associated Press (AP) YouTube channel in July 2015. The descriptions confirm that the footage is from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on 21 October 1997, during the trust vote faced by the BJP government led by Kalyan Singh. Several other media outlets also reported similar videos while covering this trust vote (here, here, and here). At that time, the BJP was in power in Uttar Pradesh, with Kalyan Singh as Chief Minister, and the Samajwadi Party was not in power. Mulayam Singh Yadav was serving as the Union Defence Minister in the United Front government.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections held in September 1996 resulted in a hung Assembly, continuing the President’s Rule that was already in place. A coalition government was subsequently formed, and on 21 March 1997, the BJP and BSP joined hands to establish the government. Under their power-sharing agreement, Mayawati served as Chief Minister for the first six months, after which Kalyan Singh of the BJP was to assume office for the next six months. After completing her tenure, Kalyan Singh took over charge in September 1997, becoming the Chief Minister. However, on 19 October 1997, Mayawati announced the withdrawal of BSP’s support.
Following this, the then Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari directed Kalyan Singh to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly. On 21 October 1997, the BJP government led by Kalyan Singh faced a trust vote. The session began at noon under Speaker Keshari Nath Tripathi. As proceedings commenced, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari initiated a protest against the Speaker’s recognition of a breakaway faction from his party, and several BSP members soon joined him. The situation escalated into a violent clash, with members using microphones, microphone handles, chairs, table tops, shoes, and sandals to attack each other. The House was briefly adjourned before reconvening. The trust motion received 222 votes in favour and none against, as opposition members walked out. A copy of the proceedings of the 21 October 1997 session is available here.
To sum up, a video showing a clash between opposition and ruling MLAs in the U.P. Assembly on 21 October 1997, during a confidence vote, is being shared with false claims.