Mamata Benerjee riding a bike as part of protest in 2021 is shared with Misleading claim
A video of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee riding a scooter is being shared virally with a claim that she is learning to ride a bike on open roads
A video of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee riding a scooter is being shared virally with a claim that she is learning to ride a bike on open roads, which lead to traffic jam. In the video, we can see road barricaded and tons of security guarding her bike.
The caption states "CM Mamata Banerjee learns to drive scooty...... Roads blocked, Security apparatus in place, hundreds on duty"
Fact Check:
The claim that roads were blocked for Mamta Banerjee to learn to ride a scooter is MISLEADING.
When we searched for the keyframes extracted from the video, we found that the video is from the year 2021. It is an old video where Mamta Banerjee is seen trying to ride an electric scooter as a part of protest against rising fuel prices in the country.
Several news publications shared the news along with the video clippings, These articles explain that 'West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tried her hand at an electric scooter while protesting against the fuel price hike in Kolkata. However, the move proved risky as the chief minister nearly fell while driving the scooter.
The chief minister was travelling to Kalighat from State Secretariat in Nabanna.
However, she finally reached her office riding pillion on the electric scooter with a placard protesting against the petrol price hike hanging around her neck. Banerjee sat behind a Trinamool Congress leader and minister Firhad Hakim who rode the battery-powered scooter. Hakim was also had a similar placard hanging from his neck.'
Therefore, the video showing Mamta Banerjee trying to ride the bike is NOT recent and is from 2021. She is not trying to learn to ride the bike, but she rode the bike as part of protest against fuel hikes in 2021. So, the claim is MISLEADING.