Sambit Patra’s ‘chullu bhar’ jibe wrongly attributes ‘jal samadhi’ quote to SP MP Azam Khan

In a tweet Saturday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra named the wrong Azam Khan while referring to a quote that he will take 'jal samadhi' if not invited to Ram temple 'bhoomi poojan'.

File image of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra | @sambitswaraj | Twitter

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted Saturday that Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan had promised to take ‘jal samadhi’ — the Hindu ritual of immersing the dead in water — if he is not invited for the Ram temple ‘bhumi poojan‘ on 5 August.

आज़म खान बोल रहें है अगर उन्हें अयोध्या नहीं बुलाया गया तो वो जल समाधि ले लेंगे!

चुल्लु भर पानी में ही लीजिएगा!! https://t.co/tVdUtHwFON

— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) July 26, 2020

“Azam Khan is saying that if he isn’t invited to Ayodhya then he will undertake ‘jal samadhi’,” Patra posted on Twitter as he shared a report of Hindi news portal Newstrack.

“Chullu bhar paani mein hi lijiyega (take water in your hollowed palm to drown yourself),” the tweet in Hindi further read. The Hindi idiom Patra referred to in the tweet is used when anyone is told to be ‘ashamed of’ himself or herself.

The post had been retweeted nearly 5,000 times and received over 20,000 likes at the time of publishing this report.

Fact check

Both Patra and Newstrack attributed the quote to the wrong Azam Khan.

The ultimatum of undertaking a jal samadhi was not made by Rampur MP Azam Khan but by Sri Ram Mandir Nirman Muslim Kar Sevak Manch president Azam Khan.

In a video, published on 25 July by news portal Headlines India, the Muslim Kar Sevak Manch president can be heard saying, “If I am not invited for the Bhoomi Poojan then I will sacrifice myself and immerse myself in the Sarayu River.”

Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan has been lodged in a Rampur jail since 26 February after he, along with wife Tanzin Fatima and MLA son Abdullah Azam, was sent to judicial custody for allegedly faking Abdullah’s birth certificate.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to attend the ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on 5 August.

In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer