By: Rajeswari Parasa
August 21 2024
Viral video of Muslim vendor refusing to display Indian flag at his shop is scripted
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Screenshot of the viral claim alleging a Muslim man opposed displaying the Indian national flag. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
Content creator Ritik Kataria produced the video in 2023. He confirmed to Logically Facts that the footage was scripted and not a real incident.
What is the claim?
A 50-second video clip depicting a coconut seller, wearing a skull cap, asking people not to put the Indian national flag on his shop has gone viral on social media. In the video, other people can be seen arguing, saying that 'it's their country, and they will place the flag wherever they want.'
This video is being shared with divisive claims, labeling Muslims as 'traitors' and suggesting, "Earlier, traitors used to have problems with the saffron flag, and now they have problems with tricolor flags as well." One such post had 3,72,200 views and 77,000 likes at the time of writing this article. Archived links to similar claims can be found here, here, here, and here.
Screenshot of the viral claim. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, the claim is false, and the incident is not real. The video actually shows a scripted skit created by Ritik Kataria in August 2023.
What did we find?
A reverse image search revealed that the viral video was originally shared on a YouTube channel named Ritik Kataria in August 2023. The full-length video (archive here) was uploaded on August 14, 2023, with the title "A fight over the Tiranga between a Hindu and a Muslim mother-son" (translated from Hindi). The channel's bio describes its content as "motivational videos."
The verdict:
A scripted video from 2023 is being shared as a real incident with a communal angle. The viral video is a motivational video created by Ritik Kataria.