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Did BJP MLA Topple Dr BR Ambedkar Statue? Old Image Shared With False Claim
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Uttar Pradesh, 16 March 2022 11:20 AM GMT | Updated 16 March 2022 11:53 AM GMT
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A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
While sharing the viral image, it is being claimed that BJP MLA Karni Singh damaged the statue of Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The viral image is from March 2018.
An image of Dr B.R Ambedkar's damaged statue is viral on social media. In the viral photo, a toppled statue of Bhim Rao Ambedkar, along with some common people and a few policemen, is seen. While sharing the viral image, it is being claimed that BJP MLA Karni Singh damaged the statue of Bhim Rao Ambedkar.
Text on the photo reads in Hindi, "बाबा साहब अमबेंडकर की प्रतिमा गिराते Bjp नेता| Bjp विधायक करणी सिंह की इस हरकत पर क्या कहेगे मोदी जी| इन फोटो को इतना वायरल करो की ये पूरा हिन्दुस्तान देख सके."
[English Translation: Bjp leaders demolishing Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue. What will Modi Ji say on this act of BJP MLA Karni Singh? Make this photo so viral that the whole of India see it.]
A user wrote a caption that reads, "Check out the status of the small caste."
It is being widely shared on social media with a similar caption.
Claim:
The Statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar has been demolished by a BJP MLA named Karni Singh.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral image has been available on the internet since 2018, and no BJP leader is involved in this incident.
We did an open keyword search during the initial investigation, which led us to a tweet dated back to March 2018, which suggests that the viral image is not recent.
We then did a google reverse image search and found this image in a report of Dainik Jagran dated 04 March 2018. The title of the report reads in Hindi, "दो दिन में चार जगह तोड़ी गई डॉ. अम्बेडकर की प्रतिमा." [English Translation: Dr Ambedkar's statue was broken at four places in two days.]
According to the report, in Uttar Pradesh, the statue of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was demolished in four different places, i.e., in Deoria, Ghazipur, Agra and Aligarh. Talking about the viral image specifically, this incident took place in the Rampur Karkhana police station area of Deoria, where unruly elements broke the statue of Dr Ambedkar. SDM Sadar Rakesh Singh and Inspector in charge Rai Saheb Yadav reached on the spot and controlled the tense situation. The police also took some people into custody in this case.
We then searched for BJP MLA Karni Singh on Myneta.info. However, we could not find any MLA with this name. We found some fact check reports where the same claim was made with different videos. In January 2020, Alt News fact-checked a video in which BJP supporters and workers toppled Lenin's statue. The video was shared as Bhimrao Ambedkar's statue being pulled down by BJP MLA Karni Singh.
Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the viral post of BJP MLA Karni Singh demolishing the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar is fake. The viral image is from March 2018 when unruly elements damaged the statue of BR Ambedkar in Rampur Karkhana police station area of Deoria, UP. We also found that no MLA named Karni Singh is associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, and hence, the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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