Fact Check: BJP leader K Annamalai dances after BMC election results? No, viral video is old
Viral dance video claims to show BJP leader K Annamalai celebrating the party's win in BMC elections.
By - K Sherly Sharon
Claim:BJP leader K Annamalai dances to ‘Lungi Dance’ celebrating the party’s win in Mumbai BMC elections.
Fact:The claim is false. The video has been circulating online since at least 2023. It was shot during the En Mann En Makkal foot march in Tamil Nadu.
The video was shared on Facebook with the same text in its description. (Archive)
A similar post was shared with the caption, “How is the lungi dance Raj T & family ?” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claims are false. The viral video has been circulating online since at least 24 September 2023. It was shot during the En Mann En Makkal foot march in Tamil Nadu.Using keyword searches we found an extended version of the same video uploaded to Instagram by the user ‘tamiljanam’ on 26 September 2023. An image showing the comparison of screenshots from the viral video and the Instagram video can be seen below.
The caption of the Instagram post reads, “Is it a dance? Is it a celebration? Let's groove to the rhythm! | Annamalai Dance | Janam Tamil”
The Nation First YouTube channel shared videos from the same incident in the format of a short video and a 3-minute long video. The title of the longer video in Tamil reads, “Annamalai dancing during the foot march | BJP Annamalai Dance Video | En Mann En Makkal”
‘En Mann, En Makkal’, which translates to ‘My Land, My People’, was a six-month-long foot march led by K Annamalai, who was then the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president in Tamil Nadu. The march was aimed at seeking a decisive mandate ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The yatra was flagged off by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 28, 2023, and was planned to cover all 234 Assembly constituencies across Tamil Nadu.
Other videos of Annamalai dancing at this event can be found here and here.
Therefore it is clear that the viral video has been circulating online since at least 24 September 2023. It was shot during the En Mann En Makkal foot march in Tamil Nadu. The audio in these videos is also different from the ‘Lungi Dance’ song from the ‘Chennai Express’ movie.
Conclusion
NewsMeter found that the viral claim is false. The video in question does not show BJP leader K Annamalai dancing to ‘Lungi Dance’ in celebration of the BJP’s victory in the BMC elections.
