Unrelated video shared as people burning Chandrababu Naidu's photo for supporting Modi

What’s the claim?

A video showing protesters hitting a portrait of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu with a slipper and setting it ablaze is circulating on social media. The claim accompanying the video states that protests erupted after Naidu decided to support Narendra Modi and join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to form the new government after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The NDA alliance won 292 seats, and the INDIA alliance won 232. Parties need to cross a threshold of 272 seats to form the government. The TDP contested the elections as part of the NDA bloc, and its leader, Naidu, reaffirmed that his party would remain with the alliance. On June 5, 2024, the NDA elected Modi as their leader, The Hindu reported.

Amid these political developments, social media users shared the video. One post sharing the clip stated: “Angry people of Andhra Pradesh are burning photos of Chandrababu Naidu for supporting Modi.” The post had amassed 188,200 views and over 4,000 likes at the time of writing. While this post has been deleted, an archived version can be accessed here. Similar posts can be found here and here. 

Screenshot of the viral video circulating online. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

The video, however, actually depicts TDP workers protesting against ticket distribution before the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and is unrelated to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Here are the facts

Through a reverse image search, we found that the video is from March 2024. The same video was found on the YouTube channel (archived here) of Telugu news outlet Samayam Telugu, posted on March 29, 2024. It was captioned: “Guntakal TDP leaders burned Chandrababu photo.”

According to the description, the workers were protesting against Gummanur Jayaram. Our research showed that protests broke out within the TDP after the ticket to contest from the Guntakal assembly constituency was given to Gummanur Jayaram, who joined the TDP from the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The incumbent MLA, Jithendra Goud, and his supporters were miffed with the decision, sparking protests.

Screenshot of Samayam Telugu YouTube video. (Source: YouTube)

According to a report in The New Indian Express, members of the TDP and supporters of Jithendra Goud barged into local TDP offices and vandalized furniture in protest. They set fire to an image of Naidu after hitting it with footwear, and this video is now going viral.

The TDP also faced protests in other areas of Andhra Pradesh after the ticket distribution for certain constituencies sparked dissent within the party. A report in The Hindu corroborates these details.

The Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh for 175 seats were held on May 13, 2024, alongside the Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission of India (ECI) website shows that TDP member Gummanur Jayaram won the election with 101,700 votes from Guntakal. The TDP won 135 of the 175 seats in the Assembly elections.

This confirms that the video was taken before the Lok Sabha elections commenced, not after the election results were announced.

The verdict

A two-month-old video of TDP workers protesting against Chandrababu Naidu’s decision to allot the Guntakal Assembly seat to Gummanur Jayaram has been shared with the false claim that people are protesting against Naidu for supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Lok Sabha poll results were announced.