No, these photos do not show workers from the All India Trinamool Congress demolishing a statue of a scholar in Kolkata in 2019

This article is more than one year old.
Published on May 23, 2019 at 08:45
Updated on May 23, 2019 at 08:45
2 min read
By AFP India

Two photos have been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts alongside a claim they show workers from the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) political party demolishing a statue of an Indian scholar during a 2019 protest in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state. The claim is false; the photographs were captured from a video released by the Islamic State group in 2015, which the group claimed showed members destroying artifacts and statues in a museum in Mosul, Iraq.

The images were shared here in a Facebook post on May 16, 2019.

The caption in Hindi translates to English as: “CCTV footage clearly shows the statue of Vidyasagar is being razed down by TMC workers #cheap_politics and blame is on BJP. pls share this post.”

“Vidyasagar” is a reference to Indian scholar, writer and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, whose statues was demolished during unrest in Kolkata on May 14, 2019. Here is a report on the incident which includes a brief biography of the scholar.

“TMC” is a reference to the ruling party in India’s West Bengal, the All India Trinamool Congress. “BJP” refers to the India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Below is a screenshot of the Facebook post:

Snapshot of the misleading Facebook post

The photos have also been shared here, here and here on Facebook with similar claims.

The claim is false; the photographs were captured from a video released by the Islamic State group in 2015, which the group claimed showed its members destroying artifacts and statues in a museum in Mosul, Iraq.

A reverse image search on Google found one of the images in the misleading posts was also published here in a report on The Guardian website on February 27, 2015.

Below is a screenshot of the report:

Screenshot of the news report

The website also published a video of the incident in this report on February 26, 2015.

The US broadcaster CBS News also published a video report on the vandalisation of the museum and destruction of the ancient artifacts here on YouTube on February 27, 2015.

Below is a image comparison screenshots of the photos shared in the misleading post (left row), snapshots of the videos published on The Guardian website (middle row) and CBS News (right row):

Image comparison screenshots of the photos Facebook post (left row), screenshots of The Guardian website (middle row) and CBS News (right row)

This BBC report published on April 2, 2017, subsequently documented the destruction inside the Mosul museum after Iraqi security forces reclaimed it.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail