A video of a religious flag on top of a truck has been shared in posts falsely claiming that residents of the city of Bareilly in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh were waving the flag of Muslim-majority Pakistan to denounce the failure of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to celebrate a majority in the state after the country’s general elections. The flag in the video is different from the national flag of Pakistan, and the video circulated weeks before the results of India’s national marathon polls were announced.
“Bareilly became Pakistan!!” read part of a Hindi-language post shared on social media platform X on June 5, 2024.
“As soon as the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh, people from the peace-loving community in Bareilly waved the flag of Pakistan,” the post continued, using a phrase that Hindu hardliners use sarcastically to refer to Muslims.
A video attached to the post shows people sitting on top of a truck waving a green flag with the star and crescent symbolizing Islam.
An image of the Pakistani national flag is superimposed on the video, and a person speaking over the footage says: “The Pakistani flag is flying in Bareilly, there are also police officers standing there.”
The report surfaced after the results of India’s general election were announced, showing that the opposition Samajwadi Party had won more seats than Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP in Uttar Pradesh – India’s most populous state and a indicator for national elections.
It was the first time in 15 years that the BJP failed to win the most seats in the state, the heartland of Indian majoritarianism that formed the basis of the BJP’s parliamentary strength.
Modi will remain in power, but with a substantially reduced mandate and will have to rely on coalition allies for his government.
The video was also shared elsewhere on X and on Facebook with similar claims.
But no people in Bareilly are seen waving the national flag of Pakistan.
Not the flag of Pakistan
The flag in the video differs from the national flag of Pakistan; it has no vertical white stripe near the tackle and the star and crescent symbol points in the opposite direction.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the flag in the video (left) and a photo of the Pakistani national flag Archive of AFP (right):
Additionally, a reverse search for keyframe images, followed by keyword searches, led to the same footage posted by an Instagram user on May 19 (archived link).
The Instagram post was shared more than two weeks before the results of India’s weeks-long general election were announced on June 4.
A representative of Bareilly police told AFP that the video was “not related to the results” of the poll.
The officer said the video is from a religious procession that took place in 2023.
“The flag seen in the video is not the flag of Pakistan but is related to the religion of Islam.”
AFP has debunked more misinformation about India’s elections here.
