This video of a rally marking Birsa Munda’s 150th birth anniversary in Gujarat is being shared as visuals of a protest against Nitish Kumar over the hijab controversy.
On 15 December 2025, a video from a government appointment ceremony in Patna went viral, showing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulling down the hijab of a Muslim woman doctor while handing her an appointment letter. The incident triggered nationwide outrage and protests, as it was widely viewed as a violation of the woman’s dignity and religious freedom, and reportedly led to an FIR being filed against Nitish Kumar (here, here, here and here). Amid this controversy, another video showing a massive rally began circulating on social media, with claims that it depicts a protest against Nitish Kumar over this issue. Let us examine the truth behind this video.
Claim: The viral video shows a massive rally protesting against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the hijab controversy.
Fact: The video is from a rally held in Netrang, Gujarat, on 15 November 2025, organised by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Chaitar Vasava to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda. This event occurred weeks before the hijab incident in Bihar and is unrelated to any protests against Nitish Kumar. While multiple protests did take place across India in response to the hijab controversy, the viral video does not depict any of those demonstrations. Hence the claim is MISLEADING.
To verify the claim, we performed a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video. This led us to the same visuals posted by an Instagram account named chaitarvasava.army on 15 November 2025, which is well before the hijab controversy. The caption of that post stated that the video was from Netrang, Gujarat.
To learn more about the rally, we conducted a keyword search using relevant terms. We found that Chaitar Vasava is an Aam Aadmi Party MLA from the Dediapada constituency in Gujarat, and Netrang is a small town in Bharuch district, located next to Dediapada. According to news reports (here, here and here), Chaitar Vasava organised a massive rally in Netrang on 15 November 2025 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda. This confirms that the rally took place well before the hijab controversy in Bihar.
Additionally, though multiple protests (here, here and here) were reported across India over the hijab controversy, this specific video has no connection to those demonstrations and was recorded much earlier. Notably, the same footage had previously gone viral with a false claim that it showed a “vote chori” protest in Bihar, which was debunked by Factly at the time.
To sum up, this video of a rally marking Birsa Munda’s 150th birth anniversary in Gujarat is being shared as visuals of a protest against Nitish Kumar over the hijab controversy.