No, there is no Dalit angle in the viral video as claimed by TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar

On April 7, 2023, TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar shared a video on her Twitter profile that quickly went viral. In the video, several boys were seen participating in a race, with one person clearly leading the way. However, at the 1 minute 17-second mark of the video, a person riding a bike appeared and grabbed the guy who was leading, dropping him to the ground to allow another participant to win. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar wrote that the incident occurred because the leading guy who was grabbed and dropped came from a Dalit family, calling it “shameful.”

Another Twitter handle named Paul Koshy quotes Kakoli Ghosh’s tweet and wrote, Hindu Rashtra.

A Congress supporter Satish Acharya also quotes Kakoli Ghosh’s tweet and wrote, Shocking behavior.

Furthermore, another Congress supporter Maya Menon also quotes the Kakoli Ghosh tweet and wrote, understand their reality, what this party says, they don’t do it. Don’t go for show off, use your intelligence.

So, it is clear from the tweet that Kakoli Ghosh, Paul Koshy, Satish Acharya, and Maya Menon are trying to portray the whole incident like it was recent and that it includes discrimination against Dalits.

So, is it true that the guy was only grabbed and dropped in the race because he was Dalit? Let’s Fact Check.

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Fact Check

During our investigation, we conducted a reverse video search of the viral video and found the same footage shared on the Facebook page of the Human Rights Council on January 2, 2020. However, the page made a different claim than TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. According to their post, the race took place in the village of Nivot, near Sohna, and the person in the lead was from Hasanpur village in Palwal. The post alleged that the people from Nivot had done something “very bad” to the person from Hasanpur and grabbed him to ensure that their own village participant would win the race. The post urged viewers to share the video to bring justice to the person from Hasanpur.

To gather more information about the viral video, we searched for it on YouTube, taking a cue from the caption of the post shared by the Human Rights Council. In the meantime, We found the same video on YouTube, which was posted on January 4, 2020, with a title that says “Brothers, this race took place in village Nivot (near Sohna), in which one brother was from Hasanpur village of Palwal.”

Apart from this, we also found the same video shared on Twitter by Rahul Narendra Singh Gujjar on January 2, 2023. Interestingly, his claim was also similar to that of the Human Rights Council on Facebook.

Furthermore, in every video shared by different handles at different times, you can see the same blue arrow which also proves the video shared by all of these handles is the same.

Moreover, at the 16-second mark of the video, the person riding the bike can be heard saying, “500 reh gaye 500” which means “500 left, 500,” indicating that there were only 500 meters left to finish the race. If there was indeed any caste-based discrimination involved, the people on the bike would likely have used casteist slurs or derogatory language against the victim. However, upon closer examination of the video, we found no evidence of such slurs being used. This further weakens the claims made by the TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and others about the incident being motivated by caste.

Hence, all these points prove that the claims made by the TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and others about the viral video of a race in village Nivot are not accurate. While the video does show a person being grabbed and dropped during the race, the incident occurred more than 3 years ago and there is no evidence to support the claim that it was motivated by the victim’s caste. Besides, the accused grabbed and dropped the leading guy only to make his own village participant secure the first position in the race. 

Furthermore, the OFI team does not support or endorse the actions of the individuals involved in this incident. It is deeply concerning that such incidents continue to happen in our society. It is clear from the video that the guy who was grabbed and dropped deserved to win the race. We condemn the actions of the accused, who clearly tried to cheat and manipulate the outcome of the race.

Moreover, we hope that incidents like this serve as a wake-up call for all of us to work towards building a more just and equitable society, free from discrimination and prejudice.

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