Old photo of water dispenser installed at Raipur station viral as Delhi

A picture of a public water dispenser that says, “Who is Hussain? Drink Water, Think Hussain” has been shared on social media. It has been claimed that the cooler was installed at a railway station in Delhi. A Facebook page shared the image with the message, “Preparations are underway for the Islamisation of India. Apparently, it is very important to know who Hussain is before drinking water at the Delhi railway station. The same campaign would have been called communal had it said ‘Jai Shri Ram.”

The image is widespread on Facebook. We also received numerous requests to verify it on the official Alt News mobile app.

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The photo is being shared across Twitter with the same caption.

भारत के #इस्लामीकरण की तैयारी, #दिल्ली के रेलवे स्टेशन पर पानी पीने से पहले #हुसैन को जानना बहुत जरूरी है, अगर इस पर #जय_श्रीराम लिखा होता तो ये साम्प्रदायिक हो जाता#दोगला_केजरीवाल

क्या कोई जानता है ये हुसैन कौन था.. 😡 pic.twitter.com/M2JpGy4rwP

— Shagun Verma (@shagun1710) May 12, 2020

It is also being promoted on Twitter and Facebook with an English caption — “This is put on an Indian Railway platform, Think same thing put with “Drink Water, Think Shri Ram” It will be in news all over the world.”

Fact-check

Alt News performed a reverse image search, which led us to a tweet by user Hussain Rizvi dated May 5, 2018. Rizvi, an India Today journalist, shared the image and wrote that volunteers of an organisation named ‘Who Is Hussain’ had the dispenser installed at the Raipur railway station in Chhattisgarh.

Taking #inspiration from #Hussain(as), @WhoisHussain_In‘s #volunteers in #Raipur #Chhattisgarh installed #water cooler for #passengers at the #railway station.

True serving to humanity!

Thanks to @WhoIsHussain#WaterIsLife#Humanity #SalamYaHussain #Karbala #امام_حسین pic.twitter.com/oqZllv0L1z

— Hussain Rizvi हुसैन حسین رضوی (@TheHussainRizvi) May 5, 2018

The viral image was posted on the organisation’s Instagram page on May 6, 2018. The accompanying caption states, “Imagine the desert of Karbala several centuries ago, where Hussain, son of Ali, and his 71 companions were killed after being kept thirsty for three days. Taking inspiration from Hussain, our volunteers in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) installed a water cooler for passengers at the Raipur railway station.”

 

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A post shared by Team WhoisHussain-India (@whoishussain_in)

‘Whoishussain.org’ was established in 2012 and it now operates in 60 cities. The NGO’s work ranges from conducting food distribution drives to blood donation camps.

Samir Abbas, the editor of TV9 Bharatvarsh, shared the image on May 12, 2018, writing, “The cruel army of Yazid martyred Imam Hussain after starving him for three days with no food or water. This campaign is called #DrinkWaterThinkHussain to make viewers realise the importance of water. It is a pity that some fundamentalists were offended by the name Hussain printed on this water cooler installed by an NGO at Raipur station and forcibly removed it.” The tweet contains another image of the dispenser after the “Who is Hussain? Drink Water, Think Hussain” poster had been destroyed.

इमाम हुसैन को यज़ीद की ज़ालिम फ़ौज ने 3 दिन का भूखा-प्यासा शहीद किया था। इसीलिए कहा जाता है #DrinkWaterThinkHussain यानि आप पानी की अहमियत समझें पर अफ़सोस इस बात का कि कुछ कट्टरपंथियों को रायपुर स्टेशन पर एक NGO के लगाए प्याऊ पर हुसैन का नाम लिखा चुभने लगा और इसे ज़बरन हटा दिया। pic.twitter.com/8tO5RcSGTY

— Samir Abbas (@TheSamirAbbas) May 12, 2018

A picture of a water dispenser installed by an NGO in Raipur in May 2018 was falsely shared as a Delhi railway station. A misleading anti-Muslim message was shared along with the image.