Fact Check: Doctored video claims Kanhaiya Kumar urging people to embrace Islam

In the video, Kumar can be heard saying, “Our history is connected to this land. We have all not come here walking from Arabia. We have grown up here, and people have embraced this religion because of its uniqueness in not promoting untouchability, unlike the old religion. It talks about peace and equality. There are no hierarchies in a mosque and on this basis, we have adopted this religion and will not leave it. We will save ourselves, and while saving the community, we will also save the country. It is our foundational responsibility. Allah has a lot of strength and will to protect us. (sic)”

An X (formerly Twitter) premium user shared the video with the caption, “The real truth of Congress. This Jihadi Kanhaiya Kumar inviting people to accept Islam in a meeting!! Stop calling and considering such people as Hindus. They have read Kalma for years and now they are trying to confuse other Hindus. This gang member should be given life imprisonment and sent to jail. (Translated from Hindi)”

Several other X users have shared the video claiming the same. Click here and here to view the posts.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the viral video has been heavily manipulated to deliberately tarnish the image of Kanhaiya Kumar.

On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found the longer version of it on YouTube, published by One Channel on August 27, 2018, titled ‘कन्हैया कुमार ने नांदेड़ में मुस्लिम समाज के बुद्धिजीवी लोगो के सवालो के दिए जवाब (Kanhaiya Kumar answers questions by intellectuals from the Muslim community in Nanded)”

During the programme, titled ‘Dialogue with Khaniya Kumar’, organised by All India Tanzeem-e-Insaaf, Kumar talked about issues related to minority communities.

Referring to the speech given by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad at Jama Masjid in 1947, at 11:50 minutes into the video, Kumar is heard saying, “The first education minister of the country, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, said from the stairs of the Jama Masjid that this country belongs to everybody. We will not go anywhere just because someone tells us to. Our sweat and blood are drenched in the soil of this country. Our history is connected to this land. We have all not come here walking from Arabia. We have grown up here, and people have embraced this religion because of its uniqueness in not promoting untouchability, unlike the old religion. It talks about peace and equality. There are no hierarchies in a mosque and on this basis, we have embraced this religion and will not leave it… We will not leave from here and then the Muslims of this country decided to stay in this country itself.”

The above excerpt from the video shows that the reference to Azad has been removed and presented to make it look like Kanhaiya is speaking for himself and embracing Islam.

The part of Kumar saying, “Allah is very strong and will protect us”, has been taken from timestamp 15:03 to 15:23 minutes of the original video. In this timeframe, criticising those who call themselves the protector of religion, Kumar says, “Whoever masquerades as the protector of the community claiming to protect religion, should be given a fierce reply by you, saying that Allah is very strong and will protect us. We don’t want protectors of religion. We want one who talks about education and employment for us….” Further calling out masqueraders claiming themselves as the messiah of religion, at around 16:00 minutes timestamp, the part appears where he says, “We will save ourselves, and while saving the community, we will also save the country.”

Hence, we conclude that the viral video has been doctored by merging clips cut selectively from three places in the original video. The claim of Kanhaiya Kumar inviting people to embrace Islam in the viral video is false.