Fact Check: Old video of protests against Nupur Sharma falsely linked to Congress victory in Telangana

Hyderabad: Ahead of Revanth Reddy’s oath-taking ceremony as the chief minister of Telangana on Thursday, a video of journalist Sudhir Chaudhary is being shared with the claim that after Congress victory in the state Indian flag with Islamic Kalima written on it was used by people in a victory procession.

In the viral video, Chaudhary can be heard saying, “This is Asaduddin Owaisi’s party. This incident will be a great challenge to the democracy of India. During a rally in Telangana, protestors tampered with the Indian flag. They removed the Ashok Chakra from the Indian flag and wrote Islamic Kalima in its place. Now you can understand why I am saying that there is nothing above religion for them, and they also don’t understand the constitution of India… (sic)”

An X premium user shared the video with the caption, “As soon as Congress won in Telangana, Kalma was written on the flag of India... Would you still like to bring Congress to your respective states or the Centre? Hindus beware of Congress… (sic)”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the rally in the video is not related to Congress’s recent victory in Telangana polls.

The news channel featured in the video is Zee News, going by the logo on the top right side. However, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary is currently working for Aaj Tak. Earlier, he anchored the program Daily News & Analysis (DNA) for Zee News as its editor-in-chief.

Taking this as a cue, we ran a relevant keyword search on YouTube and found a DNA report by Chaudhary published on the verified YouTube channel of Zee News on June 10, 2022. The viral clip appears in this video from around 33.10 minutes to 34.00 minutes.

In the report, Chaudhary talks about the protests by Muslims in 14 states after Friday prayers.

Times Now also reported that during a protest demanding action against Nupur Sharma, Ashok Chakra was replaced by ‘Kalima’ from Tricolour in Mahabubnagar district in Hyderabad, Telangana, on June 10, 2022.

The channel reported that the minority community had carried out protests across India demanding the arrest of Nupur Sharma after her alleged derogatory remark on the Prophet Muhammad.

Similarly, India Today, Deccan Chronicle and Firstpost also reported that amid pan-India protests against the controversial remarks by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad, a few protestors were seen carrying a National Flag in which the revered Ashok Chakra was replaced with a ‘Kalma’ in Telangana’s Mahabubnagar district.

Hence, we conclude that the viral video is from an old report from Zee News by Sudhir Chaudhary and is being falsely linked to the Congress victory in the 2023 Telangana State Assembly Elections.