Fact Check done by PTI: Multiple social media users shared a video of Delhi Minister Atishi addressing a public meeting, in which she allegedly said that people should not hesitate in voting vote for goons or thugs to defeat the BJP. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that an old and unrelated video was shared on social media, falsely linking it to the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections.Haveri, Karnataka: On his 'deepfake and morphed' video on quotas, Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, "They are desperate and are fearing their defeat. So, they are promoting deepfake videos."
Claim
A Facebook user on April 3 shared a video of Delhi Education Minister Atishi in which she can be heard speaking that in order to defeat BJP people should not hesitate in voting for goons or thugs.
The caption of the post read, “#ShockingThe real face of Kejriwal's protege Atishi Marlena who promised to fight against thugs and goons and change the system. Here she unhesitatingly asks people to close their eyes and vote for thugs and goons because BJP must be defeated at all cost.”
Here is the link and archive link and below is screenshot of the same:
Investigation
Starting the investigation, the Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found several keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found several posts carrying the same video with similar claims.
Three such posts can be viewed here, here and here and archive links can be viewed here, here and here respectively.
Two such X posts can be viewed here and here and archive links can be viewed here and here respectively.
Further the Desk noticed the logo of ‘Okhla news’ on the video. Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search and came across a YouTube video from the official channel of Okhla News uploaded on April 19, 2019.
The description of the video read, “Atishi Merlena at Tikona Park: A dialogue with Atishi, AAP Lok Sabha candidate from East Delhi. The election is to be held soon. #atishi #aap #LSelections2019”
Here is the link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same:
While watching the video, the Desk found that it was an extended version of the viral video.
Below is a combination image, comparing the original video with the one shared on social media:
The Desk found that the viral video was clipped from 37:10 minutes timestamp. While addressing the people, Atishi mentioned that the country has faced a lot of difficulties such as demonetisation, GST, decline in economy and so on.
“I think this election (2019) is not a normal election. The people must make sure that they are not only voting for 5 years but we are voting to save the future of our country. And we must make sure that from which part of the country we are voting from we must make sure that we must vote for that candidate or party that can defeat BJP. But we must keep in mind that there is no single party in the country that can defeat BJP single handedly. Every state has different parties that can defeat BJP. There is a phase of polling in UP today or tomorrow. In UP only the coalition of SP and BSP can defeat BJP.
So if we were UP voters, what should we do, we should vote for the coalition no matter who is the candidate. I spoke to one of my known person from UP, he told me that the candidate from our area is a goon, so what should we do? I said blindly go and vote for the coalition because this is an election where we need to defeat the BJP.”
In the next part of investigation, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search and came across a report published by Indian Express on April 28, 2019.
The title of the report read, “Atishi draws flak for ‘goons’ remark, Singhvi says poor campaigning by BJP”
Here is the link to the news report.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that an old video of AAP leader Atishi was shared as recent on social media, falsely linking to the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
CLAIM
AAP leader Atishi said that in order to defeat the BJP, people should not hesitate in voting for goons.
FACT
An old video dating back to 2019 was shared as recent on social media, falsely linking it to the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
CONCLUSION
Multiple social media users shared a video of AAP leader Atishi in which she can be heard saying that if people wish to defeat the BJP, they should not hesitate in voting for goons. In its investigation, the Desk found an old video dating back to 2019 was shared on social media as recent, falsely linking to the ongoing Lok Sabha polls
(Disclaimer: This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by India TV as part of the Shakti Collective.)
