New Delhi : Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on 18 May 2020 announced that public transport will be resumed with social distancing norms. He also said, “In a bus, only 20 passengers will be allowed to travel. The Transport Department will have the responsibility to maintain social distancing during travel and at bus stops”.
After the announcement by Kejriwal, a viral video of a Delhi Civil Defense personnel in a crowded bus complaining about the transport department’s inability to maintain social distancing in the bus and asks who will be held accountable if they get infected. Many social media users have started sharing the video across Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
BJP Delhi’s official Twitter handle @BJP4Delhi on May 19, 2020 tweeted this video with a caption,“केजरीवाल जी, आपने तो कहा था कि आप सुनिश्चित करेंगे कि बस में 20 से ज़्यादा लोग एक समय में यात्रा ना करें क्यों लोगों को मरवाना चाहते हो मुख्यमंत्री जी, जवाब दो! ये कैसा मुख्यमंत्री है जिसे जनता की जान की कोई फ़िक्र ही नहीं है! (Translated to- Kejriwal ji, you said that you will make sure no bus will carry more than 20 passengers at a time, referring to the video- do you want to get these people killed? What kind of Chief Minister doesn’t think about his peoples’ lives)”.
केजरीवाल जी, आपने तो कहा था कि आप सुनिश्चित करेंगे कि बस में 20 से ज़्यादा लोग एक समय में यात्रा ना करें। क्यों लोगों को मरवाना चाहते हो मुख्यमंत्री जी, जवाब दो!
ये कैसा मुख्यमंत्री है जिसे जनता की जान की कोई फ़िक्र ही नहीं है! pic.twitter.com/SYel2FuI2m— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) May 19, 2020
Congress party leader Ajay Maken also tweeted the same video. Archived Link
Ever since Kejriwal came to power, Delhi Govt owned DTC buses have come down by 3000.
Results were obvious today. Stranded passengers at DTC stops & the buses full.
With COVID19 already breaking records, day after day-Now social distancing for a toss- Guess what’s in store! 👇 pic.twitter.com/Lz4nqd6CbA
— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) May 19, 2020
FactO Check:
When we started to find the source of the video, we found a tweet from Aam Aadmi Party with a screenshot of a WhatsApp group chat. We can see that the video was shared in a WhatsApp group on 27th March 2020.
Aam Aadmi Party tweet:
India is facing the worst crisis in its history. Meanwhile @BJP4Delhi is busy peddling fake news.
The video circulated by BJP is from March. https://t.co/OR4QnYO1Hr pic.twitter.com/IKUOzmY7H1
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) May 19, 2020
According to AAP’s tweet, the video was shared in a WhatsApp group called DTC Karamchari Ekta Union on March 27, 2020.
On 20 May, 2020 Alt News has debunked this fake claim and published an article. In their article, a video recording of the WhatsApp group conversation was shared to confirm that the video was posted on March 27, 2020.
Courtesy Alt News:
Conclusion: This is a 2-month-old video. A bus carrying migrant workers to Anand Vihar ISBT on March 27, 2020 is being shared as it happened after Kejriwal’s announcement on May 18. The claim is misleading and fake.
Verdict: FALSE