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  • February 14, 2025
Has Pankaj Tripathi urged people not to vote for the BJP? Truth behind viral video – India TV

Has Pankaj Tripathi urged people not to vote for the BJP? Truth behind viral video – India TV

Fact check, Pankaj Tripathi, AAP, BJP
Image source: INDIA TV Fact Check of a viral video of Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi

Fact check on Indian TV: A video clip featuring Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi has been circulating widely on social media, with claims that the actor was campaigning against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and warning voters to be careful with the BJP’s promises.

What goes viral?

An X-post from the AAP’s Rajasthan unit and several other handles featured a video starring a Bollywood actor. In the video, he reportedly talks about how even a peanut seller (the character he portrays in the viral video) is not a fool to vote for the BJP because they know that if the latter is brought to power, they will get away with the government money. ‘I’m selling peanuts, not my brains. Check out this message from the BJP, which emphasizes that if voted to power, they will bring development. But you think I don’t know anything? Here, if I vote for power, BJP, they will avoid government money. I’m a peanut seller, not a fool. Remember, if the BJP tempts you, say that ‘I am not a fool’,” read Pankaj Tripathi’s statement in the said video.

India TV - Fact Check, Pankaj Tripathi, AAP, BJP

Image Source: SCREENSHOT This is going viral

It is pertinent to mention that the video is going viral months ahead of the February 2025 Delhi Assembly elections.

India TV investigated

To verify the claim, we first performed a reverse image search of the keyframes from the video using Google Lens. This search led to the original video posted to Facebook by the social media account Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on September 23.

In the video, which appears to be the same as the one shared by AAP’s social media but with some changes, Pankaj Tripathi alongside a Moongfaliwala talks about UPI-related fraud. He emphasizes that everyone should be careful of such scams. However, in the viral clip, the content has been changed to include the BJP symbol and message: “Vote for BJP” instead of discussing fraud related to UPI.

India TV - Fact Check, Pankaj Tripathi, AAP, BJP

Image Source: SCREENSHOT Original video found on UPI’s social media account

Further, we also came across some news articles stating that earlier in September, UPI launched a UPI safety awareness campaign, “Main Moorkh Nahi Hoon”, and the video featuring Pankaj Tripathi was made only as part of the campaign.

What did FactCheck reveal?

India TV’s fact check has revealed that the claim made as the post goes viral on social media is being manipulated to falsely attribute political campaigns against the BJP. The video posted by the AAP was changed and Pankaj Tripathi did not talk about voting against the BJP. The video was originally made as part of UPI’s safety awareness campaign, ‘Mai Murkh Nahin Hoon’.

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