Edited photo shared claiming BJP workers protested against Canada outside Canara Bank

What is the claim?

Amid the ongoing diplomatic rift between India and Canada over the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the subsequent allegations against India by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, a photo showing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters staging a protest purportedly outside a Canara Bank is circulating on social media. 

The viral photo was originally posted by former cricketer and Trinamool Congress leader Kirti Azad on X on September 24. The caption, when translated from Hindi, reads, “BJP Sanghis (supporters) mistook Canara bank for Canada and are protesting in front of it.” The post has gained over 4,53,700 views and over 2700 reposts. An archived version can be seen here. 

Screenshot of the viral photo. (Source: X/Screenshot)

The photo has been widely shared on Facebook with similar claims. The caption of a Facebook post in Assamese reads, “Bhakts are protesting against Canada in front of Canara Bank for banning RSS in Canada. Explain to the Bhakts that Canara doesn’t mean Canada. It is a nationalized bank of our country.” (translated from Assamese). An archived version can be seen here.

Screenshot of the viral photo. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

However, this is not true. This is an old photo, and the board of Canara Bank has been digitally added to it. Further, the claim about the ban on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Canada has been debunked by Logically Facts. 

What did we find?

We performed a reverse image search and found a news article titled “Removal of flagpole: BJP protest” (translated from Tamil) on the website of the Tamil daily Malai Malar on August 30, 2020. According to the article, the photo shows a protest by BJP members in Ooty against the local municipality for removing the party’s flagpole that was reportedly hoisted on the municipality’s land without permission. 

Comparing the viral photo with the original photo. (Source: X(L)/Malai Malar News(R)/Screenshot)

However, we noted that the board of Canara Bank is not there in the original photo.

In the viral photo, we can see a Xiaomi store on the left in the backdrop of the protestors. Taking a cue from this, we searched for Xiaomi stores in Ooty and found the Facebook page of a store in Ooty’s ATC complex, matching the name of the location where the protest was held in 2020.

On this Facebook page, we found a video from October 2019 that gives an outside view of the store. Comparing the video with the viral photo, we can see that the storefront of the Mi store matches perfectly. Further, the colorful signboard beside the Mi store in the viral photo matches the signboard of the Shri Srinivasa Store seen in the Facebook video. This video does not show the presence of a Canara Bank board. A photo of the same store taken in the evening and posted in October 2021 also shows no sign of a Canara Bank board.

Comparison of the viral photo with the Xioami store in Ooty. (Source: X(L)/Facebook(R)/Screenshot)

We also found photos of the same Mi store in Ooty on the Just Dial website, published in March 2023. These photos, taken from an angle similar to that of the viral photo, also show the Shri Srinivasa Store seen in the viral photo and the Facebook video. While the name of the Mi store on the storefront board is printed in Tamil, a difference from photos taken in 2019, 2020, and 2021, there is no Canara Bank board seen here either.

Comparing the viral photo and the screenshot of Xioami store video with the photo in Just Dial. (Source: X(Top Left)/Facebook(Bottom Left)/Just Dial(Right)/Screenshot)

We also found no recent news reports about any BJP protests in Ooty.A photo from a 2020 protest has been altered and falsely linked to the India-Canada diplomatic row.

The verdict

The viral photo is an altered version of a three-year-old photo from an incident where local BJP members protested in Ooty. The Canara Bank board has been digitally inserted in the photo to falsely link it with the ongoing India-Canada diplomatic standoff. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.