A single ‘pro-Pakistan’ slogan, a ‘looped’ viral video: How a candle light march in Bihar led to an arrest, outrage

“During the investigation, it was found that the predominant slogan raised throughout the event was ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ (an anti-Pakistan slogan), and that the march was organised as a united protest against terrorism. However, at one point, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ was found to have been shouted once by an individual, after which other participants immediately corrected the slogan back to ‘Pakistan Murdabad’,” Lakhisarai Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar said.

Kumar said the individual responsible for the erroneous slogan was identified as Kailash Prasad Singh (66), a CPI member, who has since been arrested. “We are preparing to produce him before the court after registering an FIR,” the SP said. Additionally, he noted that Singh, being an organiser for the march, had not obtained prior permission for it and that action is being taken against him in this regard as well.

Police, however, emphasised that the viral video was “edited to loop the single instance of the controversial slogan”, creating a misleading impression that it was repeatedly chanted.

“On closer inspection of original videos and the viral video, it was found that only a single individual raised the controversial slogan, that too just once. The viral video has been made by looping that specific portion of the original video,” the SP said.

The officer added that the police are also investigating who “edited and disseminated” the doctored footage.

In response to the incident, the CPI issued a statement condemning the slogan and announcing the immediate expulsion of Kailash Prasad Singh from the party.

“The candlelight march was held… to protest the heinous and cowardly attack on April 22 and to pay tribute to the martyred tourists. (It) witnessed an isolated incident where, due to either inadvertence or momentary anger, the slogan ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ was raised instead of ‘Pakistan Murdabad’. As soon as the matter came to light, the crowd corrected the slogan to ‘Pakistan Murdabad’, though this correction is not visible in the viral video clip,” the statement by the party’s district unit read.

Jitendra Kumar, coordinator of the district Mahagathbandhan, said, “It was merely a serious mistake born out of carelessness. It is not appropriate to exaggerate this issue. No one could possibly harbour such sentiments.”

RJD district president Kalicharan Das also described the incident as an “inadvertent mistake”. He stressed that the march was intended as a show of unity against terrorism and that there was “no deliberate intent” to raise pro-Pakistan slogans.