New Delhi: An Instagram user shared a video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and cricketer Hardik Pandya sharing a dais, and claimed that the latter had joined the BJP. In the video, Mr Shah can be heard announcing Mr Pandya's name while the slug running on the video claims that the cricketer had joined the ruling party. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that a clipped video from an event was taken out of context and shared on social media with a false claim.
On February 12, Mr Shah inaugurated the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Premier League, a cricket tournament for the people of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. The event was attended by Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. The clipped video is being shared on social media ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Claim
An Instagram user shared on February 20 a video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and cricketer Hardik Pandya sharing a dais, and claimed that the latter had joined the BJP. The video shows Mr Shah announcing the name of Mr Pandya while the text running on the video claims that the cricketer had joined the BJP.
The Instagram post with over 1 million views read:
Investigation
Starting the investigation, the Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found a few keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk came across a photo gallery by The Free Press Journal, which carried the pictures as shown in the viral video.
The caption in the photo gallery, dated February 13, 2024, read: "Amit Shah inaugurates Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Premier League with Hardik Pandya."
Here is the link to the photo gallery
Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted a customised Google search with specific keywords and came across a video shared by the official handle of CMO Gujarat, dated for February 12, 2023.
The description of the video read: "Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah inaugurates Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Premier League."
Here is the video of the same:
While watching the video, the Desk noticed that the viral video was clipped from the timestamps of 03:55 to 4:12 and 22:20 to 22:35. On listening to the Union Home Minister's speech from 21 minutes 40 seconds, he can be heard addressing the dignitaries on the stage.
After watching the video, the Desk found that it included the portions from the viral video. Here is a combination image, showing the same:
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, 'MP Sports Competition' is being organized across the country and under this, Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Premier League has been started. I am confident that this cricket tournament, played between the 7 assembly constituencies of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha, will prove useful in promoting the culture of sports and a healthy lifestyle in the region."
Here is the link to the post and screenshot of the same:
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that a clipped portion of a cricket inauguration event was taken out of context and shared on social media with a false claim.
CLAIM
Cricketer Hardik Pandya has joined BJP.
FACT
An unrelated video shared on social media with a false claim.
CONCLUSION
A Facebook user shared a video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah sharing dais with cricketer Hardik Pandya and claimed that the latter had joined the BJP. In its investigation, the Desk found that selected portions from an unrelated video were clubbed and shared on social media with a false claim.
(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)