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  • 2022-10-12 (xsd:date)
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  • Video shows political party flags, not Pakistan flags, at Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's march (en)
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  • A video of a procession of people waving green flags has been viewed thousands of times in Hindi-language social media posts that claim it shows Pakistan’s national flag being waved at a march organised by Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to highlight inequality and economic problems in India. This is false. A state legislator from the Indian Union Muslim League, a political party based in the southern state of Kerala, told AFP the video shows its members waving the party's flag -- not the Pakistan flag. The video was shared here on Facebook on October 2, 2022 and has since been viewed more than 4,300 times. It shows a boy waving a green flag in front of a procession of people waving identical flags. The clip appears to have been slowed down from its original speed and has been edited to include music. The post's Hindi-language caption translates as, Pakistan's flag was waved during Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India march). This has become Bharat Todo Yatra (Divide India march) Hindus should boycott Congress. The Bharat Jodo Yatra was started by Rahul Gandhi -- a leader of the opposition Indian National Congress -- in early September. According to Gandhi, the trek across the country aims to highlight rampant unemployment, soaring inflation and growing polarisation between India's Hindus and religious minorities under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on October 7, 2022 Identical videos were shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here and here , and on Twitter here and here . But the claims are false. The video shows people waving the flag of a political party in the southern Indian state of Kerala, not Pakistan's national flag. Different flag The banner being held by people in the procession includes the words Rahul Ji, leader of democratic India, welcome to Palakkad and IUML Pattambi mandalam committee. Pattambi is a town in the Palakkad district of Kerala. The IUML is the Indian Union Muslim League , a political party in the state. The flags being waved by the people in the video also match the IUML's party flag, which can be seen on their official Facebook page below: Image of the IUML party flag While the IUML flag is similar to the Pakistan national flag, it does not have a vertical white stripe and the crescent moon and five-pointed star are smaller and placed in the flag's upper left corner. Below is a comparison of the IUML flag as shown in the misleading Facebook post (left) and a picture of the national flag of Pakistan taken by AFP (right): A comparison of the IUML flag as shown in the misleading Facebook post (left) and a picture of the national flag of Pakistan taken by AFP (right) A keyword search on Facebook found the same video uploaded on the page of the Muslim Youth League Guruvayur -- the IULM's youth wing -- on September 26. The post's Malayalam-language caption reads Muslim league at Pattambi to receive the Indian hero. Rahul Gandhi Bharat Jodo Yatra. N Samsudheen, a Kerala Legislative Assembly member for the IUML, also told AFP the flags waved at the march were political party flags, not the flag of Pakistan. It was the flag of the Indian Union Muslim League, which is a registered party. The procession took place on the main road from Shornur to Pattambi, said Samsudheen, who represents the Mannarkkad constituency. Meanwhile, different Panchayat Committees gathered on the roads with the IUML flag and chanted slogans in support of Rahul Gandhi. A news report published by The Times of India, a Mumbai-based English-language newspaper, states that hundreds of party workers accompanied Gandhi as he resumed the march from Shornur in Kerala's Palakkad district on September 26. The morning leg of the march, which entered its 19th day, will cover 12.3 km and halt at Pattambi, the report reads . (en)
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