| schema:text
| - Fact Check: Old anti-CAA protest in Kolkata goes viral as Bihar's opposition to PM Modi
A viral image of social media claims that PM Modi was greeted with protests and a graffiti saying "Go Back Modi" as soon as he hit the campaign trail for Bihar elections.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
The image is from Kolkata and was taken during anti-CAA protests earlier this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi upped the NDA’s election campaign in Bihar by addressing three rallies on Friday.
Soon after, an image of a giant graffiti on a street saying “Go Back Modi” started circulating on social media with the caption, “Bihar is on fire mode”.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. The picture was taken in Kolkata during anti-CAA agitations earlier this year.
Similar claims are also viral on Facebook. The archived versions can be seen here and here.
AFWA probe
With the help of reverse image search and appropriate keywords, we found that the same picture was shared by several social media handles in January this year. Some claimed the image was part of anti-CAA protests in Kolkata earlier this year.
Journalist Mayukh Ranjan Ghosh had also posted the image on his verified Twitter handle on January 11 with the claim that it was from Kolkata’s Esplanade area.
This is one of the busiest roads in Kolkata. #Esplanade. Lakhs and lakhs of people commute, jam packed traffic r seen. Just look at this place tonight. Roads turned into graffitis, no traffic, all roads blocked, students protesting overnight.
This is #Kolkata #modiinkolkata pic.twitter.com/jDaf6vufXi— Mayukh Ranjan Ghosh (@mayukhrghosh) January 11, 2020
We found the same image carried in a news report by The Times Group’s Bengali daily “Ei Samay” on January 12.
The picture caption in Bengali translates to: "Go Back Modi" slogan written in front of Metro Channel.
Similar images were also carried by “The Times of India” on January 13, with the title, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves Kolkata, protesters shift venue”.
The report says following a visit by PM Modi, the epicentre of anti-CAA protests in Kolkata was shifted from Esplanade to Park Circus on January 12. However, before they were shifted, hundreds of university students protested all night against the citizenship bill at Esplanade’s Metro Channel and painted several graffitis against the government.
PM Modi had arrived in Kolkata on January 11 for a two-day visit to take part in celebrations on the 150th anniversary of Kolkata Port Trust. According to reports, thousands of anti-CAA protestors took to the streets of Kolkata opposing the visit.
Also, a closer look at the viral image reveals a brown structure behind, with the text “METRO CHANNEL CONTROL POST, HARE STREET POLICE STATION” on it.
With an Internet search, we were able to confirm that the building seen in the image is the Metro channel control post under Hare Street police station in Kolkata’s Esplanade area.
We found 2019 images of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee protesting in front of the same building as seen in the viral image.
We also checked with India Today’s Kolkata correspondent, who confirmed to us that the image in question is from the Metro channel control post. Hence, it is clear that the viral image is not from Bihar, but Kolkata from an anti-CAA agitation earlier this year.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)