On Thursday, 20 February, a woman identified as Amulya Leona, stoked controversy after she raised a pro-Pakistan slogan at an anti-CAA event in Bengaluru which was attended by AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
Soon after an interview edited to add her latest sloganeering clip started doing the rounds in which she can be heard crediting some people for what she has done “today”.
“I have become the face of this because of media, but behind is a group of advisory committee, there is a content team, senior activists, my parents and a very big student protest group which is working. I am just the face of it but they are the ones who are working real hard,” Leona says.
Sanjay Dixit shared the tweet with a caption, “Amulya Leona (sounds like Sunny Leone) shouted Pakistan Zindabad in the AIMIM rally, forcing even Owaisi to say Bharat Zindabad hai, Bharat Zindabad rahega. Here she reveals the big conspiracy and the big groups behind her.”
Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri too, shared the tweet which had garnered over 8,000 reactions at the time of writing this report.
The same video has been shared by a Facebook page called ‘Expose The Deshdrohis’ which has been viewed over 13,000 times.
So, is Leona actually speaking about the Bengaluru incident and revealing the people who are behind this move?
Fact Check:
Well, the video interview is not recent and was most definitely not shot after the incident. We found out that the interview is a part of a longer one that was given to a YouTube channel called ‘AAP ki Aawaz’.
This interview was uploaded on 31 January and Leona can be heard speaking about her participation in protests and her life. At the end of the interview, she adds that the she has become a face of the protests but there are people who are working with her and who tell her what to say.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We conducted a reverse search on one of the keyframes of the video interview and came across a longer version in which the logo of the channel was visible.
We then went through the list of videos uploaded on the channel’s YouTube page and found the complete 6-minute long interview.
After Thursday’s incident, Leona has been slapped with sedition and sent to a 14-day judicial custody.
But, evidently, an old and edited video is being circulated without context.