Fact Check: Edited video of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi goes viral with misleading claim
A video of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi giving a speech is going viral on social media.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 24 Dec 2021 12:58 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi giving a speech is going viral on social media. Netizens are claiming that Owaisi spoke about a community, tried to incite violence, and made threatening remarks.
The video clip was shared on Twitter by Priti Gandhi, the social media in-charge of BJP Mahila Morcha, on 24 December. It has garnered over 10K views. (Archive)
An entrepreneur, Tehseen Poonawalla, also shared the video and tagged the Uttar Pradesh police calling for action against Mr. Owaisi for threatening a certain community
The viral video clip was also shared by several Twitter users.
Fact Check:
The claim is misleading.
NewsMeter performed a keyword search which led us to a video uploaded on the YouTube channel 'One Channel' on 13 December 2021. The video shows Mr. Owaisi's full speech given at a public rally in Kanpur.
The viral video clip appears at the 40:17-minute mark. The AIMIM chief talks about a few cases of police violence in Uttar Pradesh.
"In Kanpur Dehat's Rasulabad, an 80-year-old man named Mohammed Rafiq was tortured and his beard was also pulled out by SI Gajendra Pal Singh. Tell me is this your respect? And if this is true then this is not about being ashamed but a very distressing incident …why do you hate our beard?" asked Mr. Owaisi.
Mr. Owaisi has debunked the viral video and said he did not incite violence. He shared the full video and tweeted, "In order to distract from #HaridwarGenocidalMeet, a clipped 1 min video is being circulated from 45 min speech I gave in Kanpur. I'll set the record straight: I did not incite violence or give threats."
He further tweeted, "As you can see in the above video and the one here, I was talking about Police Atrocities in Kanpur and addressing such cops who think they have immunity to violate people's liberties because of Modi-Yogi. I said do not confuse our silence for acquiescence. I said we'll remember these police atrocities. Is this objectionable? Why is it offensive to remember how police have treated Muslims in UP? We cannot forget the oppression that was meted out to Anas, Suleiman, Asif, Faisal, Altaf, Akhlaq, Qasim, and hundreds of others? I told people to not lose hope & assured them that things will change."
He went on, "It's not a crime to assure people that things will change for the better. I asked cops: who will come to save them when Modi-Yogi retire? Indeed, who will? Do they think they've lifetime immunity? People who incited violence in Rwanda & Bosnia genocides were also punished. Those who killed our boys in cold blood will also face due process & justice. Why should these mercenaries acting as police feel like they will be protected from the law after Modi-Yogi go away? The context of my speech is amply clear. I was talking about cops who torture 80-year old men. I was talking about cops who watch silently as mobs thrash a rickshaw driver in front of his daughter. Cops who rained lathi blows on a man as held his child in his arms."
Various mainstream media, including Hindustan Times, India Today, India TV News, and The Indian Express had reported Mr. Owaisi's clarification.
We tried to contact Mr. Owaisi but were unable to connect with him. The team will update this report as soon as we connect with him.
It is evident that the claim made through the viral video is misleading. The viral clip is part of a speech that the AIMIM chief delivered at a rally. It has been taken out of context.
