A video is viral on social media, showing West Bengal labour and transport minister Arjun Singh hoisting the BJP flag to the chants of Vande Mataram. It is being claimed that on Independence Day, the BJP minister unfurled his party's flag, instead of the Indian tricolour. The clip carries a Hindi text, which, when translated to English, reads: "BJP flag hoisted instead of the tricolor! BJP minister Arjun Singh in West Bengal committed a shameful, anti-national act!"
A Facebook user named Shaqib Ansari uploaded an interview snippet where an unknown man can be seen lambasting the BJP for prioritising their party flag instead of honouring the Indian tricolour, on the occasion of Independence Day. He points out that the date: August 15, then highlights that the minister was seen honouring the flag of his political party, and not that of the country. He says in Hindi, "It is a matter of concern that if the BJP hoists its own flag at its headquarters on August 15. Is this part of the BJP’s agenda?"
The national spokesperson for Congress, Supriya Shrinate, posted the viral clip on her X handle on August 15. In the caption, she calls out Arjun Singh as a "wretched traitor." (Archive)
The video was also shared by the official Facebook handle of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RDJ). The party claimed that a BJP flag was hoisted instead of the national flag on Independence Day. (Archive)
Users Neha Singh Rathore (@nehafolksinger) and Hansraj Meena (@HansrajMeena) also posted the same clip, deriding the BJP minister for not hoisting the national flag. The archived versions of these two posts, which have since been deleted, can be accessed here, and here.
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Several other users on X, including (@vizhpuneet), (@abhinavmaddy), and (@TrikaTriggered) posted the clip with similar claims. Readers should note that while some of the users do not directly claim that the video was recorded on India’s Independence Day, their posts insinuate a similar offence. Since the videos were uploaded on August 15, they were viewed in the same context -- as purported evidence of a BJP minister disrespecting the national flag. (Archives: 1, 2, 3)
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Fact Check
To find out the reality behind the viral clip, we broke it down into individual keyframes. A reverse image search on one such keyframe led us to this X post by Arjun Singh, published on July 6.
The post has a video, which is a longer version of the clip that has now gone viral. It shows Singh unfurl the BJP flag, and then proceeding to hoist the Indian national flag. In the caption, Arjun Singh had indicated that the video was shot at his office, on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
To sum up, firstly, the video showing Arjun Singh hoisting a BJP flag to chants of Vande Mataram is clipped. The full video shows him moving on to hoist the Indian national flag right after. More importantly, the clip was shot on July 6 this year on the occasion of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's 125th birth anniversary. It has no connection with Independence Day celebrations.
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