FACT CHECK: CLIPPED VIDEO CIRCULATED TO FALSELY ACCUSE OWAISI OF THREATENING HINDUS

Fri 24 December 2021:

Members and followers of the BJP began distributing a video of AIMIM head Asaduddin Owaisi after videos of Hindutva leaders calling for the genocide of Muslims during an event named ‘Dharam Sansad’ held in Haridwar between December 17 and 19 appeared online.

He may be heard threatening Hindus, according to them. It should be mentioned that Owaisi had asked AIMIM’s Uttarakhand state president to submit a police complaint against the ‘Dharam Sansad’ gathering, according to a tweet.

A short clip is now viral on social media to divert attention from the hate speeches made during the event to Owaisi.

A BJP Delhi spokesperson claimed that Owaisi is “directly threatening Hindus” in the tweet below.

Listen to this speech of Ovaishi ..then you yourself will say that there is no difference between Owaisi and Aurangzeb, Babur, Taimur Lang, Jinnah, Hafiz Saeed
This hate bomb is openly threatening Hindus ! pic.twitter.com/xKZ58sVgHN

— Anuja Kapur (@anujakapurindia) December 24, 2021

BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh also shared the video, drawing close to 4 lakh views as of this writing.

up चुनाव में विपक्ष प्रशासन व जनता को डरा रहा है। देशवासियों को ये विडीओ देखना चाहिए और फ़ैसला करना चाहिए अपने और अपने परिवार के भविष्य का कि वो कैसी सरकार में सुरक्षित महसूस करेंगे। pic.twitter.com/r6xCaYuLGI

— Parvesh Sahib Singh (@p_sahibsingh) December 23, 2021

BJP supporters Shefali Vaidya, Mahesh Vikram Hegde, @MrSinha_ and @MeghBulletin, and columnist Tehseen Poonawalla further amplified the claim that Owaisi was threatening Hindus.

HOW this speech any different from his psycho brother’s speech ‘take the police out for 15 minute and see what we can do to Hindus’? @asadowaisi is every inch a fanatical bigot in the tradition of Surhavardi and this is CLEAR threat to Hindus! pic.twitter.com/jwizfkPMPk

— Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) December 23, 2021

Poonawalla’s tweet was reshared by SP MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.

Fact-check

First and foremost, it should be noted that the speech in question was delivered five days before to the ‘Dharam Sansad’ event in Haridwar.

Furthermore, in his remarks, Owaisi did not “threaten Hindus,” but rather referred to Uttar Pradesh police.

His complete speech can be watched below and the relevant portion begins from 39:09 minutes. “Shaukat Sahab (AIMIM UP president) was saying that the beard of an 80-year-old man Mohammad Rafiq was pulled in Rasulabad police station, Kanpur rural and he was urinated upon. The person who did this was SI Gajender Pal Singh. Tell us, is this your honour? If this is true, I don’t feel ashamed but I feel pained. Why do you hate our beards?”

He then continues, “I want to tell those policemen that remember my words…” The next part is the portion currently viral. It has been placed out of context by clipping Owaisi’s reference to alleged police brutality – “Yogi will not be the chief minister forever, Modi will not remain the prime minister forever. And we, Muslims, maybe silent because of the current situation but remember that we will not forget your cruelty. We will remember your cruelty. Allah will destroy you/ wipe you out with his powers. We will remember and the situation will change. Who will come to save you when Yogi will go to his mutt and Modi will go to the mountains? Who will come? Remember that we will not forget.”

After this, he goes on to refer to other alleged instances of police brutality – “We will also not forget that rioters of Bajrang Dal were assaulting a Muslim auto driver and his daughter was trying to save him. Isn’t this what happened in Kanpur? We will remember. That child isn’t just the daughter of her father but she is also my daughter. I will not let her pain be forgotten…We have seen on TV, policemen hitting a father while his innocent child is in his arms. He says “my child will get hurt”…”

While the use of the phrase “Allah will destroy you/ wipe you out” while referring to policemen who have committed alleged atrocities against Muslims can be construed as problematic, the claim that he spoke against Hindus is false. It is also blatantly misleading to compare his speech with the calls for genocide made during the ‘Dharam Sansad’ event.

Tweeting two videos of his speech, made in Kanpur on December 12, he said, “I did not incite violence or give threats… As you can see… 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.”

Owaisi tweeted that he was referring to police atrocities and that “Allah punishes oppressors”.

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:

1. I did not incite violence or give threats. I talked about POLICE ATROCITIES Here’s the full video in TWO PARTS [Cont] pic.twitter.com/buZWZmVNLa

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) December 24, 2021

On those drawing a connection between what he said and the speeches made at the Haridwar ‘Dharam Sansad’, over which a case of promoting enmity has been filed, Owaisi said that, at the Haridwar meeting, “majoritan organisations have called for #genocide”. “The conversation cannot shift from the fact that people are openly calling for violence while the govt of the day is complicit.”

It is noteworthy that Tehseen Poonawalla subsequently shared the complete video while criticising the AIMIM chief.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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