Video of people complaining about attending a political rally wrongly linked to BJP

Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the north Indian state of Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been campaigning at full steam to unseat Congress from power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Rajasthan's capital, Jaipur, on September 25 to campaign for the BJP.

What is the claim?

A video has been circulating on social media claiming people were deceived into being taken to a BJP rally in Jaipur under the pretense of being taken to the Khatu Sham temple in Sikar, Rajasthan. The viral clip shows a group of women telling a news reporter that they were misled and brought to the rally under the guise of a temple visit. One woman angrily says to the reporter in the video, "They told us to keep our mouths shut and promised that we would receive everything. They didn't even stop the bus and didn't provide us with any water….They lied to us to bring us here." 

One user shared the video on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, "BJP thinks people are fools! In the name of giving darshan of Khatu Shyam ji, women were taken to the Jaipur BJP rally." The post (archived here) had gained over 21,000 views and 660 likes at the time of publishing. A similar post has also been shared on Facebook too.

Screenshot of the posts on Facebook and X. (Source: Facebook (L)/X (R )/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video actually shows people complaining about being misled and brought to a rally organized by the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), a regional political party.

What did we find?

Upon reviewing the viral video, we observed that the reporter in the video was holding a boom mic with the 'HR20News' logo on it. HR20NEWS INDIA is a local news organization based in the north Indian state of Haryana. We found that a nine-minute-long version of the viral video was shared on the Facebook page of this news outlet on September 25. In the extended video, the reporter stated that people were misled and taken to JJP leader Dushyant Chautala's rally in Sikar, Rajasthan. The people can be seen claiming in the video that they were not given the promised food and brought in 15-16 buses from Sonipat under the false pretext of a temple visit. 

The viral video has been taken from the 1:30 mark and the 2:05 timestamp of the HR20News video.

Hindi news outlet Dainik Bhaskar also reported about the incident. According to the report, ahead of the assembly elections, JJP held a rally in Sikar on the 110th birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, at which Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana Dushyant Chautala gave an address. Several women from Baldev Nagar and Model Town in Ambala alleged that they were taken to the rally under the pretext of a visit to the Khatu Shyam temple. The women further said that JJP took ₹100 each from them, an allegation the party denied.

We also found a video report published on September 26 by local news organization Desh Pradesh Khabar. The report is titled, "JJP, shame on you! Played with the faith of women by taking them to the rally on the pretext of Khatu Shyam Darshan (translated from Hindi)". In this video, people from Ambala spoke to the media outlet claiming they were misled and taken to the JJP rally in Sikar.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, the JJP held a rally in Sikar on September 25. The report said the party has set its sights on contesting 25-30 seats in the upcoming Rajasthan assembly elections. 

 The verdict

A video featuring a group of women complaining about being misled and taken to a JJP rally was wrongly linked to the BJP. The viral video was captured in Sikar and is unrelated to the BJP's Jaipur rally. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.