Did Bihar's Education Minister Chandrashekhar Praise Islam After Criticising Hindu Religious Texts? A Fact Check!

Recently, Bihar's Education Minister Chandrashekhar made a controversial statement regarding 'Ramcharitmanas' while addressing the convocation of Nalanda Open University in Patna, Bihar. Many opposition leaders condemned his statement and asked him to apologise for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.

Against the same backdrop, a video of Chandrashekhar giving a statement about Islam is going around on social media. In the viral video, he can be heard saying, "Islam is the only religion that teaches love and faith." People on social media claimed that Chandrashekhar praised Islam three days after criticising Hindu religious texts merely for vote bank politics.

Major Surendra Poonia shared the video and wrote, "3 दिन पहले बिहार में RJD कोटे के शिक्षा मंत्री चंद्रशेखर ने कहा था कि रामचरितमानस को जला दो| आज वो कह रहे हैं -मोहब्बत और ईमान का पैग़ाम देने वाला अकेला इस्लाम है. हद है …सिर्फ़ एक समुदाय के वोटों के लिए RJD के लोग PFI/SIMI का समर्थन करेंगे और हिंदुओं की आस्था को गाली देंगें."

[English Translation: 3 days ago, Bihar RJD quota Education Minister Chandrashekhar had asked to burn Ramcharitmanas. Today he is saying – Islam is the only one who gives the message of love and faith. How long will RJD people support PFI/SIMI just for the votes of one community and will abuse the faith of Hindus?]

BJP MLA Umakant Singh also shared the same video with the same caption.

BJP Leader Kapil Mishra also shared the video and wrote, "He is the education minister of Bihar who was abusing Ramcharit Manas. Watch the video - Islam is the only one which gives the message of love and faith; the only agenda is to abuse Hindus. Now he does not remember Saint Ravidas ji, he does not care about the welfare of any caste. He is the slave of Jihadis.]

Claim:

Bihar's Education Minister Chandrashekhar praised Islam three days after criticising Hindu religious texts merely for vote bank politics.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the claim and found it to be misleading. The viral video is from May 2022.

During the initial investigation, we observed the video carefully. We noticed the location of Madhepura, Bihar, in the upper left corner and the logo of The Repulic Times in the right corner. Taking a hint from it, we did an open keyword search and came across a clearer version of the viral video shared by 'The Republican Times' on their official YouTube channel dated May 3, 2022.

In this video, Chandrashekhar answers the reporter's question, who asked, "What message do you want to give to people on Eid ul Fitr in Madhepura?" To which he replied, "Islam is the only religion which gives the message of love and faith, and on this occasion, I want to say to the people of the world, I want to say to the people of Bihar, the enemies of peace have to be chased away, the country belongs to all, it does not belong to any one's father, we all together have made the country, so the one who spreads hatred will be doomed. Hail and hail the faithful..... Long live the revolution". At 3:40 of the timestamp, one can see the original version of the viral clip.

On searching more, we found that the same video was shared on Chandra Shekhar's official Facebook handle dated May 4, 2022. The caption of the post reads, "Victory to faith and love - fall to hatred"

It is evident from our investigation that the claim of Chandrashekhar calling Islam the only religion that teaches love and faith being recent is misleading. Chandrashekhar made this statement during a programme held in May 2022 to commemorate Eid ul Fitr. It has nothing to do with his recent statement on Ramcharitmanas.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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