Old footage from state of emergency in Manipur falsely linked to West Bengal elections
- Published on April 23, 2026 at 09:44
- 3 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India
The Indian government has said it will increase security ahead of crucial elections in West Bengal state, where political violence is common, but footage of military trucks on a deserted street circulating in posts is old and from a different state. AFP was able to geolocate the clip to northeastern Manipur state.
"In West Bengal, even the mere mention of elections used to create panic among Hindus. To tackle it, security forces have been increased. The message is clear: if any attempt is made to suppress or kill Hindus through riots, action will be taken," says the Hindi-language Facebook post from April 8, 2026.
The accompanying video, which appears to be sped up, shows a convoy of military vehicles driving along a deserted street at night.
The first phase of polling opened on April 23 in the crucial battleground state of West Bengal, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has never ruled (archived link).
Members of the Hindu nationalist party have accused the state's firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of appeasing Muslims, and launched an aggressive bid to unseat her in the elections (archived link).
The state also has a long history of election violence and New Delhi announced the deployment of additional security forces to quell any clashes (archived here and here).
Similar posts on Facebook and X drew comments from users who believed the footage is from West Bengal.
One said, "Hindus should feel at peace, a good and commendable step by the government, thank you."
Another user said there should be "more attention" towards West Bengal and indicating fears it could become like Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
However, the video is more than a year old and taken in another state.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared footage found the same video was posted on X on February 17, 2025, with its caption stating it showed the situation in northeastern Manipur state after the imposition of emergency measures to curb prolonged ethnic violence (archived link).
"The Indian army announces to the public that they have come here to restore peace and urging people to stay at home," the post reads.
Manipur has seen periodic clashes between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community that have killed more than 250 people since May 2023 (archived link).
Indian news agency ANI reported India's President Droupadi Murmu imposed President's Rule, which allows the central government to take over local administration, in Manipur on February 13, 2025 following a period of violence (archived link).
AFP reached out to the X user, a native of Manipur, who said the video was "not shot by her". However, she identified the location in the footage as the Singjamei Chongtham Leikai neighbourhood in Manipur's Imphal city.
Google Street View imagery of the location matches a series of shops seen in the video, confirming it was filmed in Manipur (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked misinformation related to the West Bengal state election here and here.
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