A plastic perfume bottle was misidentified as 'gold biscuit'.
Multiple social media users shared a video showing a police official examining BJP's election campaign kit and claimed that the party distributed 'gold biscuits' to the voters in Mumbai's Ghatkopar. A voice in the background also referred to an object from the kit as 'gold biscuit'. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that plastic perfume bottle was misidentified as gold biscuit. The video was taken out of context and shared on social media with false claims.
Claim
A Facebook user shared on May 12 a video of a police officer examining BJP's campaign kit and claimed that the party distributed 'gold biscuits' to the people in Ghatkopar, Mumbai.
The caption of the post read: "Bags containing BJP poster, a banner & one GOLD biscuit inside every bag at GHATKOPAR, Mumbai."
Here is the link and archive link and below is a screenshot of the same:
Investigation
Starting the investigation, the Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found several keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found several posts carrying the same video with similar claims.
Three such posts can be viewed here, here and here, and their archived versions can be seen here, here and here, respectively.
The Desk then conducted a customised keyword search on Google and came across a video report on YouTube uploaded by the official channel of Zee News on May 12, 2024.
The description of the video read: "A video of Ghatkopar Police Station in Mumbai is going viral. In this video, police and election officials are seen searching a car. BJP's election campaign material is visible in the video and it is being claimed that BJP is distributing gold biscuits. What is true? Watch this report"
Here is the link and below is a screenshot of the same:
According to the report, the BJP's District Vice President from North Central Mumbai Ajay Badgujar stated that he was made to wait at the police station for hours and out of frustration referred to the plastic bottle as 'gold biscuit.'
The leader further blamed the opposition for the incident saying that, "The gold biscuit that you are talking about. This is that plastic biscuit. This is not a biscuit but a perfume bottle, but the opposition has to make a mountain out of a molehill. So they are calling perfume bottles a gold biscuit."
The Desk noticed the articles in the viral video were similar to the one in the news report. Below is a combination image, comparing visuals of the two videos:
Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted another customised keyword search and came across a report published by the Deccan Herald on May 12, 2024.
The title of the report read, "Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | No gold biscuit in poll kit, only 'plastic' perfume bottle: BJP leader on viral video"
Here is the link to the report and below is a screenshot of the same:
Subsequently, the Desk found that a plastic perfume bottle in BJP's election campaign kit was misidentified as 'gold biscuit' and was shared on social media with false claims.
CLAIM
BJP distributed 'gold biscuits' in election kits to people in Ghatkopar, Mumbai.
FACT
A plastic perfume bottle was misidentified as 'gold biscuit'.
CONCLUSION
Several social media users shared a video showing police officers examining a BJP election kit, claiming that the party was distributing 'gold biscuits' to the people in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. In its investigation, the Desk found that a plastic perfume bottle was misidentified as 'gold biscuit'. The video was taken out of context and shared on social media with false claims.
(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)