By: Ishita Goel J
May 15 2024
The rally featured Rajkumar Roat, a Bharat Adivasi Party candidate, as he filed his nomination for the 2024 general election in Banswara, Rajasthan.
What's the claim?
A video depicting a large crowd marching down a street has been widely shared on social media. The video is claimed to show a protest against the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, with one individual seen riding a camel amid the crowd.
The video has been circulated with Hindi captions that roughly translate to: "Rally against Modi: If the Constitution is tampered with, the consequences will be dire. This crowd was not seen on any channel." Archives of these posts can be found here, here, and here.
Screenshots of the viral posts on social media. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, contrary to the claims, the rally was in support of a candidate from a party contesting the ongoing Indian general election in Rajasthan, not a protest against Modi.
What did we find?
A reverse image search revealed that the video was posted on April 3, 2024. Jitendra Meena, the national spokesperson of the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), posted the video on X (archived here) on April 3, writing in Hindi, "The people of Dungarpur-Banswara now want change, and Bharat Adivasi Party @BAPSpeak will bring change this time and make the people @roat_mla win."
Similarly, Avdhesh Pareek, a journalist from Rajasthan, posted the video (archived here) on April 3, 2024, writing, "Rally of Bharat Adivasi Party candidate Rajkumar Roat in Dungarpur-Banswara."
On April 4, 2024, Roat uploaded a video on his YouTube account (archived here), which included shots from a different angle that matched the viral video. The video was overlaid with the text, “We are going to establish a true democracy."
Comparison of the viral video with the video uploaded by Roat. (Source: X/YouTube/Modified by Logically Facts)
What does the video show?
According to a report by The Times of India, Roat filed his nomination for the Lok Sabha election on April 3, arriving on a camel amid thousands of supporters. This aligns with the visuals in the viral video, suggesting that it shows the rally preceding the candidate's nomination filing in Banswara.
The report further highlighted that during the procession, supporters chanted slogans of tribal unity: 'Ek Teer, Ek Kaman,' 'Adivasi Ek Saman,' and 'Jai Jauhar Ka Naara Hai, Bharat Desh Hamara Hai.'
NDTV also shared a clip of Roat arriving on a camel to file his nomination in Banswara. This video similarly shows thousands of supporters surrounding him, mirroring the viral video.
Report by NDTV on the rally. (Source: Website/Modified by Logically Facts)
According to a report by The Hindu, the Congress has extended its support to the BAP candidate in the tribal-dominated seat, with the primary objective of 'saving the Constitution and democracy.'
The verdict
A video, reportedly showing a rally of a Bharat Adivasi Party candidate from Rajasthan’s Banswara filing his nomination on a camel, is being shared as a protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We have, therefore, marked this claim as false.