New Delhi: The Indian National Congress shared a video on social media Wednesday, on the occasion of National Youth Day (celebrated on 12 January), with the claim that the youth in the country “have resolved to defeat” the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The video includes criticism of the BJP on issues such as youth unemployment, hunger, freedom of speech, and China’s incursions along the LAC since May 2020.
Containing a series of images of the Indian youth, the video garnered nearly 3,500 views on YouTube, and received over 1,000 likes and 450 retweets on Twitter.
Dear BJP,
You can fool some of the people all the time.
You can fool all the people some of the time.
But you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.And our nation's youth? You can never fool.
This #NationalYouthDay, our youngsters have resolved to #DefeatBJP. pic.twitter.com/tqzE8Lh8y4
— Congress (@INCIndia) January 12, 2022
However, it has now been revealed that one of the photos, that of a group of youth protesters that appears 28 seconds into the video, predates 2014 — the year the Narendra Modi-led BJP government first came to power.
The video voiceover at this point reminds viewers of the year PM Modi joined office. “Modi ji, you have been claiming that you are a big follower of Swami Vivekananda and the nation had high hopes in you when you came to power in 2014. But you have disappointed us and let us down,” it states.
Photo of Kashmir protest
Credited to Reuters photojournalist Danish Ismail, the photo is believed to be of a group of young people in Kreeri (north of Srinagar), protesting on 11 August 2010 against the alleged killing of 19-year-old student Syed Farrukh Bukhari.
The image had been used by the BBC in September 2014 for a story titled “The angry youth of Kashmir won’t accept al-Qaeda”.
The protests took place during a period of unrest in Kashmir, between June and September 2010, after Army soldiers killed three Kashmiri civilians in what came to be known as the Machhil fake encounter case.
Omar Abdullah was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the time, with his National Conference party leading a coalition government in the state with the Congress. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power at the Centre.
Some Twitter users pointed out the error, with one commenting that “it’s really shameful that your team couldn’t find genuine pic of unemployed youth”.
It's really shameful that your team couldnt find genuine pic of unemployed youth and using picture of anti India protestors. or this is how you promote and support anti India forces? pic.twitter.com/R9wETFPMaS
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) January 13, 2022
Dear Congress,
You cannot fool all of the people all of the time….!! pic.twitter.com/pDYj03ECXQ
— ࿗Ishi Rathore࿗ (@youngnvedic) January 13, 2022
(In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer)
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