A video of Rahul Gandhi offering namaz with Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and a few members of the Muslim community is viral on social media with messages terming him “anti-Hindu”.
Alt News has received verification requests for the video on its WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160).
Last year, a Facebook page भारत :An Untold Story shared the video with the caption – “In the Video Clipping, the Muslims are taking Oath in front of Rahul Gandhi and Gulam Nabi Azad against Hindus & Hinduism demolition in India. They are praying for the Muslim Kingdom in India.” At the time of writing this article, the video had 10,000 views. The post is now deleted.
Another page NaMo Mantra:- Nation FIRST shared the video with the identical narrative and later took it down.
Watch the video carefully. Muslims are taking an oath in front of Rahul Gandhi and Ghulam Nabi Azad against the Hindus and Hinduism. The old man is talking about demolition in India. They are praying for a Muslim Kingdom in India. 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/Pip1BaSVEh
— Naren Mukherjee (@narendra52) February 12, 2020
The clip was circulated by those followed by railway minister Piyush Goyal’s office (1, 2, 3, 4).
In fact, it had also been shared with the message – “थोड़ा वायरल कर दोगे तो 4 दिन बाद पप्पु माफी मांगते हुए नजर आएगा” – after the conclusion of 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. The message translates to, “If you make this viral Pappu will beg for forgiveness in four days. ”
Old video of Rahul Gandhi offering a tribute
Alt News had debunked the same video when it was viral in December 2018 with claims that Gandhi converted to Islam after the assembly elections.
However, the truth is that the video depicts the Congress President paying tribute at Ambedkarnagar’s Kichhocha Sharif Dargah. We had found a December 10, 2016 video uploaded by news organisation Sahara Samay, which reported, “After attending a meeting at Shivbaba in Ambedkar Nagar, UP, Rahul Gandhi reached the famous Sharif Kichhocha dargah and on the tomb of Makhdoom Sahab, offered tribute.”
This news was also reported on September 10, 2016 by Aaj Tak with the headline, “Rahul Gandhi pays tribute at Ambedkarnagar’s famous Kichhocha Sharif dargah”
Rahul Gandhi has often found himself in the crosshairs of misinformation attempting to portray him as a Muslim sympathiser. Earlier, his photograph shot during a temple visit in MP was viral was him offering Namaz.
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