Was Pakistani Flag Waved At Team Uddhav's Rally? A Fact Check

An online post falsely claiming that the Pakistani flag was waved at a rally of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) is going viral.

Claim

Pakistani flag raised during a Shiv Sena (UBT) rally in Chembur, Mumbai.

The archived version of the tweet can be seen here. We also received this claim on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044) requesting us to fact-check it.

Fact

The claims stated that it was Shiv Sena's (UBT) Mumbai South Central candidate Anil Desai's rally in Chembur, following which we ran a relevant keyword search that led us to Instagram posts from Desai, seen here and here, confirming that a roadshow did take place in Chembur on May 14, 2024, ahead of the elections on May 20, 2024. Taking a cue from this and the flyover, hoardings seen in the viral video, we also found the location of the rally on Google Maps.

Screengrabs from the viral video (left) and Google Maps (right)

Screengrabs from the viral video (left) and Google Maps (right)

Newschecker then ran a keyword search for "Shiv Sena Pakistani flag Anil Desai rally", which did not lead us to any credible news reports about such an incident during the roadshow. We noticed that the flag in the viral video (left) did not have the distinct white strip of the Pakistan flag (right). The flag seen in the video has a white crescent and star in the middle, surrounded by small white stars, similar to the Islamic flags raised during Eid processions, thus contradicting the viral claim.

Result: False

(This story was originally published by Newschecker, 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.)