An old video of Home Minister Amit Shah claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party freed the people of Uttar Pradesh from former gangster-turned-legislator Mukhtar Ansari is being shared on social media, wrongly portrayed as a recent speech after Ansari’s death. BOOM found that the viral video is from a public rally held by Shah in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh in April 2019 before the Assembly elections that year.
Ansari, 63, died on 28 March 2024, due to cardiac arrest after he fainted in his cell in Banda jail in Uttar Pradesh. After vomiting and losing consciousness, he was rushed to the Rani Durgavati Medical College at around 8:25 pm on Thursday. Ansari had been convicted in more than seven different cases, including a murder case.
His death comes three months after his lawyers moved the Supreme Court, alleging the possibility of him being killed in custody. Ansari was elected as an MLA from Mau five times and had initially represented the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He then served two terms as an independent candidate from 2002 to 2012, followed by a win under his own party, the Quami Ekta Dal (QED), in 2012. He finally returned to the BSP ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls.
In the recently viral video on social media, Shah can be heard saying, “If we have done any big work, it is that we have given freedom from the Nizam. Do you know what Nizam is? If you don’t know, I will tell you. In Nizam – N means BJP gave freedom from Nasimuddin Siddiqui, I means BJP gave freedom from Imran Masood, BJP gave freedom from Azam Khan, BJP gave freedom from Atiq Ahmed, and BJP also gave freedom from Mukhtar Ansari. If this SP-BSP alliance comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, then there will be Nizam rule again in UP.”
The video was posted on X by the handle @MukeshMohannn. The translated caption of the video reads, “Amit Shah is saying that Bharatiya Janata Party got us freedom from Mukhtar Ansari. Doesn’t it appear as if Shah poisoned Ansari with his own hands?” (अमित शाह कह रहे हैं कि मुख्तार अंसारी से मुक्ति भारतीय जनता पार्टी ने दिलाई। क्या ऐसा प्रतीत नहीं हो रहा, जैसे शाह ने अपने हाथ से अंसारी को ज़हर दिया हो?)
Click here to view, and here for an archive. The same video is being shared on Facebook with the false claim.
Click here to view, and here for an archive
Fact check
BOOM found that the video of Shah saying that the BJP has given the people freedom from Ansari is from April 2019, and not a recent speech. In the first eight seconds video, we can see the date in the corner – 10.09.19 and Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh written on the top left corner.
Taking a hint from this, we ran a keyword search on YouTube and found the original speech uploaded on BJP’s official handle on 10 April 2019. From the 19:27 minutes timestamp we can see the same portion as seen in the viral video. This speech was given during the election campaign before the UP assembly elections.
This story was originally published by BOOM, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline, excerpt and introduction para, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.