New Delhi: A video clip showing thousands of men — allegedly protesting the derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad by BJP leaders — is doing the rounds of social media platforms like Whatsapp, Twitter and Youtube. It falsely claims they are Indian Muslims gathered at a rally to “condemn the blasphemous remarks” against the Prophet.
The video gained traction after the controversial remarks made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, more so after several Muslim-dominated nations strongly registered their protests with the Indian government. Sharma was suspended from all party posts on 5 June.
Tehran Times, an English language daily, initially shared the video with the caption: “Hundred of thousands of Indian Muslims stage a rally to condemn the blasphemous remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by the BJP staff” and soon deleted it.
A Facebook post (now deleted) shared the video with a Hindi caption which translates to, “Today Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Bahrain, Afghanistan, all are together in the name of Huzoor for the sake of the name of their master, Muhammadur RasoolAllah… And there is only one reason to be united… La ilaha illallahu muhammadur rasulullah.”
Fact check: The original video is over a year old from January 2021 and is from Pakistan, not India. The crowd had supposedly gathered for far-right organisation Tehreek-e-Labbaik’s founder Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s “chehlum” in Lahore.
“Chehlum” is the commemoration ceremony held after forty days of the passing away of a person. Reportedly, Rizvi’s Chehlum was held on 3 January 2021.
Iran media Tehran Times is reporting fake news to incite violence in India.
Fact is that this video is from Pakistan.
This video is of crowd gathered for TLP Chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s chehlum (ceremony held 40 days after his death in November 2020) in Lahore. pic.twitter.com/CU7Vj5Eym8
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) June 14, 2022
ہمارے جنازے تو فیصلہ کرتے ہی ہیں کہ حق پر کون ہے
یہ بتاو دنیا والو ایسا چہلم بھی دیکھا ہے؟#ہمارا_عزم_مشن_رضوی#3Jan_KHR_Chehlum pic.twitter.com/ZR7NztkHWJ— TLP PS-104 Official (@TLP_104) January 3, 2021
Users, however, continue to share the video on various platforms as protests against Nupur Sharma.
Received via WhatsApp. Supposedly Today’s Muslim Convention at Kolkata? pic.twitter.com/hxUG8rT6iU
— Satviksoul ?? (@satviksoul) June 12, 2022
Kolkata… What's they are upto #HindusUnderAttackInIndia pic.twitter.com/fIk7s8rHZ3
— Hemir Desai (@hemirdesai) June 12, 2022
In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer
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