Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan did not say “Bharat Jalana Jaante hai”; Misquoted by Zee News, News18

“हम भारत बंद करना जानते है, तो हम भारत जलाना भी जानते हैं” “If we know how to shut down India, we also know how to burn it too” (translated). A provocative statement threatening to burn India has been attributed to Dalit organisation, Bhim Army’s chief, Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan by Zee News Hindi and News18. According to articles by these two media outlets, speaking at a Dalit event in Muzaffarnagar, Chandrashekhar reportedly said that the crowd is only waiting for his signal, if we can shut down India, we can burn it too. There is a limit to our patience, there is a limit of the atrocities too” (translated) “जितनी भीड़ यहां खड़ी है, उसे सिर्फ एक बार मेरे इशारे का इंतजार है. अगर हम भारत बंद करना जानते हैं, तो हम भारत को जलाना भी जानते हैं. हमारे सब्र का इम्तिहान नहीं लिया जाए, एक सीमा होती है उत्पीड़न की भी”

भीम आर्मी के चंद्रशेखर का विवादित बयान, 'हम भारत बंद कराना जानते हैं, तो जलाना भी जानते हैं'https://t.co/4OXj2lW4aT

— Zee News Hindi (@ZeeNewsHindi) February 2, 2019

The reports predictably led to an outrage and reaction on social media. A twitter user, @shrialokmishra, who describes himself as a nationalist, threatened to use the same fire to make a biryani out of those threatening to burn India and feed it to the dogs. “Try it and watch the fun”, he tweeted.

हम भारत जलाने वालों को उसी में पका कर, बिरियानी बनाकर, फिर गली के कुत्तों को खिलाना भी जानते हैं।
एक कोशिश तो करो। फिर देखो मज़ा…….।https://t.co/mTO0eUJZhf

— Bhaiyya ji (@shrialokmishra) February 3, 2019

What’s the truth?

Did Chandrashekhar Azad really make a controversial statement threatening to burn down India? Alt News accessed the video recording of the event to confirm if he indeed made such a statement. His statement can be heard starting 1:30 in the following video clip.

 

It is evident from the video clipping that Chandrashekhar said “भारत चलाना” and not “भारत जलाना” (“run India” and not “burn India”). We slowed the video down and listened to that specific portion of the speech in a loop. In the slow-motion video, it even more clear that Chandrashekhar said “Chalana” and not “Jalana”.

 

To make sure that there was no element of misinterpretion, Alt News also listened to older speeches of Chandrashekhar and found that he has made the same claim about the ability of Bhim Sena to run India (“भारत चलाना”) in another speech as well. At 2:07 in the speech below, Chandrashekhar makes the same statement that he’s made in the present rally.

Tweeting from his twitter handle, Chandrashekhar slammed Zee TV and News18 for being anti-Dalit and wrote that he had said “भारत चलाना” not “भारत जलाना” (“run India” and not “burn India”). He also threatened legal action against them.

मैंने भारत चलाना बोला और ये भाजपा का दलाल चैनल जलाना चला रहा है क्या ऐसे दलित विरोधी मनुवादी चैनलों का बहिष्कार नही होना चाहिए? https://t.co/PG7XvZqobs

— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) February 3, 2019

Chandrashekhar also published a video statement on his Twitter account.

मीडिया चैनल @News18India @ZeeNewsHindi के दलित विरोधी हमारी छवि खराब करने के झूठे एजेंडे के खिलाफ मेरा स्टेटमेंट, न्यूज़ 18 ने खबर हटा ली है लेकिन बेशर्म ज़ी न्यूज़ ने अबतक खबर नही हटाई है आज की रैली में इनके बहिष्कार की बात रखूंगा।#ZeeNewsIsFakeNews #ZeeNewsIsHateNews pic.twitter.com/hFazeNH7Ws

— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) February 3, 2019

In a conversation with Alt News, Chandrashekhar reiterated that he had been misquoted by Zee News and News18. Till the time of writing the article, there was no official statement or apology from the two media outlets.