Footage of Holi festival fight falsely shared as post-election attacks in West Bengal

"Following BJP's victory in West Bengal, the party-backed activists have unleashed a rampage against Muslims since this morning," reads a Bengali -language Facebook post shared on May 5, 2026.   

Clip included with the post shows a group of young men wielding sticks hitting houses and motorcycles in a narrow alley.  

The claim emerged after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP recorded a landslide victory in the state election in West Bengal (archived link). 

At least five people have been killed in post-election violence since the results were announced on May 4, including a close aide of West Bengal's BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari (archived link). 

Indian news websites Maktoob Media and Millat Times reported that Muslims and their properties were some of those targeted in the attacks (archived here and here).  

Image

Screenshot of the falsely shared Facebook post with a red X added by AFP

People in landlocked Muslim-majority Bangladesh are highly alert of the power shift in neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal due to its newly elected chief minister's divisive remarks against Muslims (archived here and here). 

The largely Bengali-speaking state had been ruled by Modi's fierce critic and adversary Mamata Banerjee since 2011, who relied on a strong support base of women, Muslims and urban Hindu residents to hold on to power (archived link).

Banerjee said a revision of electoral rolls done prior to the elections served as a "mass disenfranchisement exercise" affecting minorities, especially Muslims and migrant workers in districts bordering Bangladesh (archived link).

The clip also surfaced elsewhere in Facebook and YouTube with similar claims.

But the footage predates the recent violence in West Bengal and shows a fight over Holi celebration in Jodhpur in the northwest Indian state of Rajasthan.  

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared footage led to the same video published by Indian news website CityLive on a Facebook post on March 5, 2026 (archived link). 

With several hashtags including Jodhpur, the Hindi-language caption of the post reads, "A minor dispute over throwing balloons escalated into violence in Jodhpur, a group of 5–7 miscreants unleashed panic at the Pratapnagar Sadar Market, vandalising numerous vehicles."

Image

Screenshot comparison of the false post(L) and the old video shared on Facebook

Overlaid text on the video reiterates the post's caption. 

Subsequent keyword searches led to news reports published by several Indian local media outlets including Dainik Bhaskar and ABPlive on March 4 featuring the same video and its screenshots (archived here and here). 

AFP Fact Check contacted ABP News reporter Karan Puri, who had reported on the matter and he said that the video is from Pratap Nagar, Sadar Bazar, near Valmiki Basti in Jodhpur. He also shared the same video with AFP.

"The incident took place in March during Holi celebrations because of colour balloons. There was no religious angle in it," he told AFP on May 7, 2026.  

AFP has previously debunked misinformation related to the state elections in West Bengal.