By Kalim Ahmed

A photo that appears to be of a politician in torn clothes being rescued by the police is widely being circulated on social media. The photo is accompanied by a Hindi caption that suggests that the politician in the photo is a member of the BJP who was beaten during election campaigning. The caption also refers to the quote given by the PM when his convoy was blocked by protestors on a flyover in Punjab. It attempts to mock the PM.

The claim is viral on both Twitter and Facebook.

( Link https://twitter.com/PragyaTweet/status/1485520727344222209?t=4xbRf7gf-2BmQQXHKmRfjA&s=19)

( Link https://twitter.com/dnyadav/status/1485564179893600260?t=HT0Aw2-lIUb6oGQh1Tadgw&s=19)

( Link https://twitter.com/Ahmed992727/status/1485570458820902912?t=-PLrx1i0ATRCWYfdV3Aajw&s=19)

It is important to note that the photo is being shared in the context of the upcoming UP assembly elections. The campaigning for this election is in full force as Uttar Pradesh goes to poll from February 10.

Misleading
We performed a reverse image search and found that the person in the photo is indeed a BJP leader but the image is from July 2021. According to a report published by PTI, the man in the photo is Kailash Meghwal, BJP’s Scheduled Caste’s Morcha chief, who was visiting Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district for a meeting where he was manhandled by protesting farmers.

A video of this incident can be found on the Twitter account of Trolley Times.

( Link https://twitter.com/trolleytimes/status/1421113247365681152?t=_4XDduQ6GzIBdZ5SKy_7rQ&s=19)

But the claim that BJP leaders were met with protests during election campaigning is not incorrect. Various reports of BJP leaders being confronted by the people of their own constituency have emerged in the past few weeks. In Bijnor, a BJP leader was seen flaunting his gun at the public for pelting stones at his convoy. Last week NDTV reported that Vikram Singh Saini, the BJP MLA from Khatauli, was chased away by the people of his own constituency.

( Link https://youtu.be/QwndsTt5jnAli)

In conclusion, a photo is being shared in the context of the upcoming UP elections with the claim that a BJP leader appealing for votes was manhandled by the public. The image is from last year.