Fact Check: Old Kerala video shared with false claim; effigy seen in visuals is of MG University VC, not PM Modi

Hyderabad: A video has been widely shared on social media platforms, with users claiming that it shows Congress cadres burning an effigy of PM Narendra Modi in Karnataka which resulted in a fire accident. An X user shared the video with the caption:

"Lungi of five Congressmen caught fire while burning Modi's effigy in Karnataka! See how it all happened. Now Modiji's effigies have also started teaching a lesson Modi ji power " (translated from Hindi).

The short video of 29 seconds shows a group of protesters holding blue color flags walking towards a junction and shouting out slogans. When they try to burn an effigy as part of their protest, some of their clothes also catch fire.

NewsMeter investigated the claim and found it to be false. The event took place in July 2012 during a demonstration march held by the Kerala Students Union (KSU) in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. Established in 1957, Kerala Students Union (KSU), is the student wing of the Indian National Congress in Kerala. The effigy seen in visuals is of then Mahatma Gandhi University vice-chancellor, not PM Modi

The video analysis revealed clear indicators of the protest's location in Kerala, marked by the distinctive KSU flags and Malayalam signboards. Among the protestors in the video, we could also recognize Rahul Mankootathil, who has served as the KSU President for the Pathanamthitta district and is the current Youth Congress President. He was seen actively leading the group during the demonstration.

Taking a clue from this, we did a reverse image search of the video's keyframes with relevant keywords and found the same clip published on the Asianet News YouTube channel on July 12, 2012.

According to the report by Asianet News, this incident occurred while KSU members were burning the effigy of the MG University Vice-Chancellor. The protest, organized by the KSU Pathanamthitta district committee, ended at Central Junction. During the attempt to burn the effigy at Central Junction, the clothes of KSU members caught fire. Fortunately, they escaped without serious injuries. KSU members Sreenath and Vishnu Pannakal were injured in this incident. The protest was against the alleged corruption of the Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi (MG) University.

A keyword search yielded a report in the Times of India referring to the same incident. A public interest petition was filed before the Kerala High Court seeking a statewide ban on the burning of effigies. The petitioner argued that the act of burning effigies is inhumane, and barbaric, and reflects poorly on the culture of those involved. The petition highlighted incidents where effigy burning led to injuries and strained interstate relations, emphasizing the need for a ban to maintain societal peace and unity. This news also mentions the effigy burning of MG University VC and the protest organized by KSU Pathanamthitta. As per this report, the incident happened on July 4, 2012.

The same video was also found on Facebook dated July 4, 2012 and July 5, 2012

We were able to geo-locate the video on Google Maps confirming that the video was indeed from Central Junction, Pathanamthitta

A comparison between the screengrabs from viral video and Google Maps photos of the location can be seen below.