Media outlets misreport AIMIM supporters chanted ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in Jaipur

A 30-second long video clip where All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi is being greeted by a swarm of supporters in Jaipur’s Rajasthan was reported by multiples media outlets as supporters of the party chanting pro-Pakistan slogans.

Zee News, Zee Rajasthan, First India News and Amar Ujala ran the video while carrying the disclaimer that it could not be independently verified.

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Below is the report by Zee Rajasthan News.

It was also posted by a few social media users.

Fact-check

We performed a keyword search on Facebook and came across the same video but of better quality. After carefully listening to the video, it was clear that the supporters were chanting “Owaisi Saab zindabad”. This can be heard at 11 seconds in the video below.

Alt News reached out to M Salim Khan, an AIMIM worker who was present at the scene. Khan said, “Owaisi Saab left the hotel around 8:30 pm to go pray at a nearby mosque. He went with his driver in a WagonR. Between 10:00 pm and 10:15 pm, when he was leaving the mosque, people surrounded him and started chanting slogans. We reached the spot within five minutes to escort him out. The people surrounding him were mostly young and they also chanted the Taqbeer. However, no objectionable chants were made.”

We checked the Facebook page of AIMIM Rajasthan and found a second video from the incident. This video was recorded when Owaisi already sat in his car and was leaving. In this video, it can be heard that the youth surrounding him chanted, “Nara e Taqbeer, Allahu Akbar” [God is great]. This was followed by, “Dekho dekho kaun aya? Sher aya sher” [Look who’s here? The tiger].

Alt News reached out to Commissioner of Jaipur police, Anand Srivastava, who told us, “We have investigated the video and we did not find objectionable chants being raised”.

Replying to one of the viral tweets, the police said, “Jaipur police has verified the facts in the video and did not find any objectionable slogans being raised. We recommend people to ignore such rumours.”

@jaipur_police ने उक्त वीडियो के तथ्यों को Verify किया तो उक्त घटनाक्रम मैं देश विरोधी नारे लगाने की बात के तथ्य नहीं पाए गए | इस तरह की अफवाहों पर ध्यान ना दें |

— Jaipur Police (@jaipur_police) April 14, 2022

To conclude, a video of AIMIM supporters greeting Assaduddin Owaisi outside a mosque was misreported by many media outlets as his supporters chanting pro-Pakistan slogan. Alt News found that they were chanting “Owaisi Saab zindabad”.