The video is not from Jammu and Kashmir but from Bengaluru. A street artist named Baadal Nanjundaswamy from Bengaluru created this video in 2019.
People used to express their feelings about social issues in a variety of ways. A sarcastic video showing the pitiful condition of the road came to our attention. A viral video of a person wearing an astronaut suit walking on a pothole-ridden road is being widely shared, with the claim that the video shows the deplorable state of roads in Jammu and Kashmir.
The caption of the video claims “Congratulations to all kashmiris ,especially administration of jammu and kashmir to achieve such an achievement of landing on moon,,, all credit goes to administration of jammu and kashmir for there unprovidable facilities”.
Fact Check-
We found the original version of the video by performing a reverse image search on one of the key frames. According to multiple news outlets, street artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy created this video in September 2019 to highlight the problem of potholes in Herohalli, Bengaluru. It has nothing to do with road conditions in Jammu and Kashmir.
We discovered the original tweet by Baadal showing the video, shared with hashtags like “Herohalli” and “Namma Bengaluru”. The Hindu reported about this video as well.
The artist- Baadal Nanjundaswamy has a gold medal in Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts. He is well known for creating satirical artwork on social issues. In 2015, he created a crocodile installation in the middle of a road in a large water-filled pothole to highlight the city’s road conditions once more. In 2018, he drew a cobweb around a pothole to draw the attention of city officials.
When the video became viral, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city’s civic body, took instant action and began repair work on those roads the next day itself. Baadal had shared a video on twitter of the civic authorities’ response with the caption “Thank you people for such an overwhelming response and support! Work in progress. Quick and prompt response from BBMP.”
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo found that the viral video is not from Jammu and Kashmir, It is from Bengaluru. An artist and activist from Bengaluru named Baadal Nanjundaswamy created this video to draw attention to the city’s pothole issue. Hence, the viral claim made along with the video misleading and partly false.
Title:Old video from Bengaluru shared as visuals pothole problem in J&K
Fact Check By: Ushan Manoj
Result: Partly False
