Edited video shared as SP leader making provocative statements against Thakur and Brahmin communities in UP
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of a Samajwadi Party leader making provocative statements against the Thakur and Brahmin communities in Uttar Pradesh. In the video, the SP leader states that if their party (SP) comes to power in UP, Thakur will be called Thakuratha, Pandit will be called Panditha. He is also heard saying that his government will kill everyone belonging to these communities. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a Samajwadi Party leader making provocative statements against the Thakur and Brahmin community in Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: The video shared in the post is an edited one. In the original video, Samajwadi Party leader Rajesh Yadav was describing the behaviour of the regional MLA’s father in Katra. Rajesh Yadav made these statements of Thakurata and Pandita attributing to the Katra’s MLA father. Rajesh Yadav filed an FIR and released a video clarifying it as political conspiracy intentionally created against him. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A few social media users have shared the same video mentioning the politician as Katra former MLA Rajesh Yadav. When we searched for the video using keywords, it is found that a journalist named Abhinay Kumar Guptha had shared the original version of this video on his Facebook page. In the original video, Samajwadi Party leader Rajesh Yadav was describing the behaviour of the local MLA’s father in Katra. Rajesh Yadav made these statements of Thakurata and Pandita attributing to the Katra MLA’s father. While describing the atrocities and problems created by goons in Katra, Rajesh Yadav said that if the SP government will come to power in UP, their government will take all the goons to task. The viral video was created by merging different video clips of Rajesh Yadav’s speech. Abhinay Kumar Guptha and a few other news channels have confirmed that the viral video circulating on social media is an edited one.
When this video went viral on social media, Rajesh Yadav released a video clarifying that the viral video circulating on social media is an edited one. Rajesh Yadav said that he had never insulted any community in his election campaign and called the viral video a conspiracy created intentionally by opposition parties against him. Regarding the viral video, on 09 February 2022, Rajesh Yadav filed a complaint with the Shahjahanpur police and also with the Election Commission. Reporting this information, several news organizations published articles. They can be seen here, here, and here.
To sum it up, an edited video is being shared as SP leader making provocative statements against Thakur and Brahmin communities in UP.