Fact Check: Viral claim that Congress workers were beaten up for anti-national speech on budget day is false
A post on Facebook claiming that Chhattisgarh Congress workers were beaten up by the police for delivering anti-national speech on the budget day went viral
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India Today Fact Check
The video was shot earlier on September 18, 2018 and Congress workers didn’t deliver any anti-national speech
Shortly after interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented the interim budget on Friday, a post on Facebook claiming that Chhattisgarh Congress workers were beaten up by the police for delivering anti-national speech on the budget day went viral.
(See archived version here)
Policemen beating some men brutally can be seen in the video. The video caption reads: "Idhar aap budget me lage the, udhar Chhattisgarh me bharat virodhi bhaasan dene par Congressiyo ki jamkar dhulai ki police valo ne [While you were busy with the budget, Chhattisgarh Congress workers were beaten up by police for delivering anti-national speech]".
Facebook user Mukesh Soni posted this video in the public group 'Mission Modi 2019 me apne 100 mitro ko jode'. The group has more than 5 lakh followers. Netizens soon started slamming the Congress party believing the video to be true.
India Today Fact Check Team found the claim to be false.
The video was shot in September last year during the protest of Congress workers in Chhatisgarh's Bilaspur. During the protest, Congress workers allegedly threw garbage inside the house of the then urban administration minister Amar Agrawal due to which the police lathi-charged on the Congress workers.
The video has already been shared more than 1000 times from different Facebook accounts.
When we searched the keywords "Chhattisgarh laathi charge Congress", we found many media reports which used this video and described the incident. We couldn't find any report which said that the Congress workers delivered anti-national speech during the protest.
The incident was widely covered by the media. Congress president Rahul Gandhi also criticised the then BJP government in the state terming the incident an act of "dictatorship" and an attack on the fundamental rights of the Congress workers.
READ | After Bilaspur lathicharge, Rahul Gandhi says dictatorship a profession under Modi
| | pic.twitter.com/to7LDkXzEt Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 19, 2018
So, neither did the incident happen on the budget day nor did the Congress workers give any anti-Indian speech.
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