Fact Check: Manipulated video of Kanhaiya Kumar urging ‘conversion to Islam’ resurfaces

Hyderabad: A video (archive) featuring Kanhaiya Kumar, the Congress candidate from North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, allegedly urging people to embrace Islam has resurfaced on social media. Those sharing the video have also claimed that the Congress party has given tickets two times to Kumar to fight the Lok Sabha election.

“Our history is intertwined with this land. We haven’t all arrived here from Arabia; we’ve grown up here. Unlike the old religion, people have embraced this religion due to its unique stance against untouchability. It emphasises peace and equality. In a mosque, there are no hierarchies; based on this, we’ve chosen this religion and won’t abandon it. We will safeguard ourselves, and in doing so, we will also protect our community and our country. It is our fundamental duty. Allah possesses immense strength and the will to protect us,” Kumar is heard saying in the video.

“Kanhaiya Kumar while addressing Muslims said that I have become a Muslim, everyone should become a Muslim...Hinduism is useless. Now there will be some double-faced Hindus who will vote for Congress or the India alliance. Congress has given him the Lok Sabha tickets twice, it is a different matter that he loses,” wrote an X user who shared the video.

Megh Updates, (archive) a right-wing X handle, infamous for peddling misinformation, shared the video with the caption, “An undated video of Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar goes viral on social media where he can be seen demeaning Hindu religion and praising Islam and Allah for generosity. We all have not come here from Arab. We became Muslim because of the preaching of peace and equality.”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video has been digitally manipulated by clipping and merging at different timestamps. In the original video, he is referring to the speech given by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad at Jama Masjid in 1947.

Upon a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found the longer version of it published on YouTube by a channel named One Channel on August 27, 2018.

In a programme, titled ‘Dialogue with Khaniya Kumar’, organised by All India Tanzeem-e-Insaaf in Nanded, Maharashtra, Kumar talked about issues related to Muslims while addressing a gathering of the eminent people of the Muslim community.

From the 11:50-minute timestamp, Kumar talks about the speech given by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad at Jama Masjid in 1947. He could be 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. Our history is intertwined with this land. We haven’t all arrived here from Arabia; we’ve grown up here. Unlike the old religion, people have embraced this religion due to its unique stance against untouchability. It emphasises peace and equality. In a mosque, there are no hierarchies; based on this, we’ve chosen this religion and won’t abandon it.”

The above excerpt from the video clarified that the reference to Azad has been clipped to make it appear like Kumar is a Muslim speaking for himself.

The part of Kumar saying, “Allah is very strong and will protect us”, has been taken from the timestamp 15:03 to 15:23 minutes of the original video. In this timeframe, criticising those who call themselves the protector of religion, Kumar said, “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 said, “We will save ourselves, and while saving the community, we will also save the country.”

Did Kanhaiya Kumar contest twice on a Congress ticket?

Kanhaiya Kumar, the former president of the JNU students’ union, contested his first Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully as a Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Giriraj Singh from Bihar’s Begusarai in 2019.

Kumar was not associated with the Congress party when this video was recorded in 2018. He joined the Congress in 2021 and is fighting his first election as a Congress candidate.

Hence, we conclude that the video has been manipulated by clipping and merging clips of different timestamps. The claim of Kanhaiya Kumar inviting people to embrace Islam is false.