Fact Check: Board showing text stating BJP leaders banned from entering Bihar’s Jagdishpur is fake

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A post showing a board is going viral on social media. On the board shown in the post it is written that BJP members are strictly forbidden to enter to Ugna Jagdishpur village of Bhojpur in Bihar and if they do, their legs will be broken. Vishvas News investigated the viral post and found that the original photo of the board was tampered with and posted with the edited text. Also, the original board is from Kachheda Warsabad, Greater Noida.

Claim

A post shared on Facebook by a group named Priyanka Gandhi Fan Club is going viral. This post has a picture of a board with a text that reads (English translation): “BJP members are strictly forbidden in Ugna Jagdishpur village of Bhojpur, Bihar.” It is also written on this board that if BJP people enter, their legs will be broken.

The archived version of the post can be seen here.

Investigation

Vishvas News started its investigation by using Google reverse image search tool. We found a report in The National Herald dated October 30, 2018, which showed a similar board picture. According to this report, this board was put up in Kachheda Warsabad, Greater Noida, in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, which was adopted by MP Mahesh Sharma under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. It was written on the board put up in this village that ‘Village adopted by MP Mahesh Sharma, BJP members are strictly prohibited in this village’.

An Indian Express report stated that the farmers of Kachheda Warsabad, Greater Noida had then told that suddenly 25 to 30 JCBs entered the village in the presence of 100 policemen. According to the news report, the police had also lathi-charged the villagers for protesting. According to sources, the realty group had purchased the land in 2005-2006, but hadn’t carried out any development activities and the farmers continued farming. On Sunday, October 28, officials of the company reclaimed the land and damaged the crops, alleged villagers. They also alleged that no prior notice was issued. Villagers also said that they tried to contact MP Sharma to resolve the issue, but his phone has been switched off. However, Mahesh Sharma dismissed the anti-BJP signboard as a political stint by the opposition parties. Vishvas News contacted the local journalist Mohammad Yusuf, who had covered this incident. He told that in 2018 this board was installed in Kachaida Warsabad, Greater Noida. The picture of the original board can be seen below.

When we scanned the group on Facebook that shared the viral post, we found that Priyanka Gandhi Fan Club group has 38.5K followers.

(With inputs from Manish Kumar)