Fact Check: Did MP Tabassum Hasan Take A Communal Line After Her Victory In Kairana?

After the landmark victory of RLD Candidate Tabassum Hassan in the recently concluded by-polls in Kairana, UP, the social media was flooded by a communal quote, allegedly by the MP. It was spread immediately after her win, and read as, “ये अल्लाह की जीत है और राम की हार” (This is the victory of Allah and defeat of Ram).

Fake News

According to Alt News, the quote was shared on many pages on Facebook, one of them named, Yogi Adityanath – True Indian’s post on June 1, has got 6446 shares at the time of writing. Furthermore, another page Kamal Tyagi BJP got more than 1000 shares for the post.

Alt News further reported that another version of the same image was posted on the “We Support Yogi Adityanath” page, which has a following of over a million. The image has received around 40,000 shares already.

The Janta Ka Reporter quoted Kamal Tyagi BJP’s Facebook post where he said, “I am pleased today. I was hurt by our defeat in Kairana this morning. But as soon as Tabassum Begum said ‘this is Islam’s victory and the defeat of Hindus’ it felt good, very very good. This is a slap to those who, in their opposition to Modi, voted for Tabassum.” The post continues to occupy space in his page. He has more than 150,000 followers.

Prajapati Shantilal, a Twitter user, followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his other cabinet ministers like Piyush Goyal and RK Singh, also shared the post, condemning those who voted for Tabassum, Boom Live reported. He has more than 8,000 followers.

Furthermore, an unverified twitter handle of singer Sapna Chaudhary also tweeted the post and received 202 retweets and 695 likes, as per the report by Boom Live. She has more than 98,000 followers

The Post has also been shared widely on various WhatsApp groups.

The Facts

Tabassum Hasan, when questioned about the quote, disagreed and vehemently denied making any public statement. She talked to Janta ka Reporter and said, “I don’t check my phone that often. It was only after a reporter from a TV channel showed me on his mobile phone that I became aware of the fake viral news. My team has since been digging deeper to trace the source of this fake news item. They’ve now found that the members of Hindu Yuva Vahini were behind this malicious act.”

She further added, “I come from a religion, whose prophet went to ask for the well-being of an old lady, even though used to throw garbage at him. I represent people of all religion. I come from a very respectable family, which has been in politics for generations. Anybody who knows our family will tell you that we don’t use such languages for anyone, let alone for a religion.”

The RLD ‘s UP State spokesperson Abhishek Chaudhary told Boom Live, “Our party and MP made it very clear that we have nothing to do with this viral quote. This poster has spread on social media by the party who is more active on social media. Before our victory, BJP has claimed their win, and their MLA’s and candidates were recalling 2013 riots. On the day of election BJP’s social media was appealing to people to remember 2013 riots, exodus of Hindus etc. When RLD’s victory announced, they lost their cool and started spreading “Allah ki jeet” and “Ram ki har”. This was all pre-planned. Our MP and national president Jayant Chaudhary on behalf of Party dismiss this quote.”

FIR against miscreants

Tabassum Hasan, in her letter, stated that she would approach the police to file a complaint about a probe into the “fake posts”. In her letter, she mentioned that the posts were being circulated to disrupt the communal harmony and this was part of a “well-thought-out strategy”.

The Shamli Superintendent of Police Dev Ranjan had received an application regarding the matter, and The Hindu quoted him as saying, “We have given it to our surveillance branch, and they are making an inquiry into this matter.”

The Logical Indian Take

48-yr-old Tabassum won by a margin of 44,618 votes and is the only Muslim woman representing UP in the 16^th Lok Sabha. After Kairana’s by-poll results were declared, the response of candidates from all parties were actually mature and responsible.

Also Read: Politicians Need To Learn From Kairana Poll Winning & Losing Candidates’ Response