Fact Check: BJP's Arjun Singh DIDN'T hoist party flag on Independence Day

As India celebrated its 80th Independence Day on August 15, 2026, a video allegedly showing a Bharatiya Janata Party leader hoisting the party flag instead of the Tricolour went viral on social media.The video was shared with captions like: “SHOCKING! BJP Flag Hoisted instead of Indian National Flag by BJP's Labour & Transport Minister Arjun Singh of West Bengal, on India's 80th Independence Day.”Congress leader Supriya Shrinate and the official Facebook account of the Rashtriya Janata Dal also shared this video with the same claim. India Today Fact Check found that this video is from July 6 and was recorded in Barrackpore in West Bengal, where a BJP office was inaugurated that day.OUR PROBEReverse-searching the video’s frames led us to Arjun Singh’s official Facebook account, where he had shared the clip on July 6. This alone makes it clear that the video does not show an Independence Day flag hoisting. According to the BJP leader’s post, the video was from Barrackpore in West Bengal. It was recorded during a programme held on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee.Arjun Singh also clarified in a Facebook post on August 15 that the viral video was old. He said that a BJP office was inaugurated in Barrackpore on July 6 and that this video was from that. He also said he will take legal action against the Indian National Congress and the RJD for spreading falsehoods against him.ANOTHER FLAG HOISTINGAnother video going viral right now purportedly shows BJP workers in Kurud, located in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh, hoisting a party flag on Independence Day.We found that while the video is indeed from Kurud, it is not from August 15. We found the clip in an Instagram post from March 23. Kurud’s BJP MLA Ajay Chandrakar had also shared a similar photograph on Facebook on March 22. According to the post, a mandal-level training camp was organised in Kurud as part of the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Training Maha Abhiyan.Thus, it’s clear that neither video shows a BJP flag being hoisted by party members on Independence Day.- EndsPublished By: Pathikrit SanyalPublished On: Aug 17, 2026 13:51 IST