January 6th, 2020 / 5:47 PM
Image Credits:Umar Khalid (Facebook)
The recent attacks on JNU students and faculties allegedly by ABVP members have sent shockwaves to people across the nation, especially amongst the student community. This was followed by hundreds of students arriving and protesting against the attacks on the students and the alleged lack of action taken by Delhi Police at the Gateway of India. Activist Umar Khalid was also present at the venue where he was sloganeering.
An 18-second video of Khalid sloganeering has gone viral on Twitter, which BJP Spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga has forwarded with the claims that Khalid happens to be saying, ‘CAA se Azaadi,’ (Freedom from CAA) followed by what can be heard as ‘Hinduon se Azaadi’ (Freedom from Hindus) three times. The video has around 12600 likes and 8400 retweets.
Muslim and Leftists students in Mumbai again Raised Slogans “Hinduo se Aazadi” but this time not in Jamia or JNU , they raised Hinduo se Aazadi Slogans at Gateway of India Mumbai. Will@MumbaiPolice@OfficeofUTtake action or support this goons Silently ?pic.twitter.com/7Cq9ci8tE5
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga)January 6, 2020
In fact, Bagga even alleged that another twitter user took the video down after uploading it, saying that it represents that Khalid did use the phrase, ‘Hinduon se azaadi.’ He alleged that Umar Khalid forced the Twitter user to delete the video.
First sit together with ur leftists Gang & decide 1 statement. Video is Recorded by ur gang,I tweeted the same Video,U forced him 2 delete,now u are saying Video is edited, Protester is saying it’s not edited but No such Slogans @ Site. Pehle decide krlo bhai khna kya chahte hohttps://t.co/EIJEGZSqZPpic.twitter.com/TAPvM6Hd7N
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga)January 6, 2020
Many other Twitter users have also shared the video.
Leftist students protest at Mumbai ostensibly in support of#JNUStudents BUT raising Chants of “Нinduon se Azaadi”#GatewayOfIndia#JNUattack#JNUProtests#JNUViolence#LeftAttacksJNU#ShutDownJNUpic.twitter.com/vf8qcKl6Og
— Vishal Kumar Savarkar (@Vishal2141)January 6, 2020
“Нinduon se Azaadi” Chants at 2.15am Gateway of India Mumbai. Leftist Congi Handles .
— sukajeevanam (@mahadevanrajesh)January 6, 2020
#SHOCKING!! This is ALL about Religiоn. These people are at Gateway of India, Mumbai ostensibly in support of#JNUStudents BUT raising Chants of “Нinduon se Azaadi”(Freedom from Нindus)!!#GatewayOfIndia#JNUattack#JNUProtests#JNUViolence#LeftAttacksJNU#ShutDownJNUhttps://t.co/YgiXmFtKWG
— #चौकीदार,, Dinesh Singh (@dineshsingh6167)January 6, 2020
In this sea of comments, there were two attendees of the protest who put out their opinions saying that Umar Khalid did not mention any such sentences. However, the videos they uploaded did not have any segment with the words ‘CAA’ or anything sounding similar to ‘Hindu’ in the clips.
This sketchy 17 second video has close to 10K likes. Here’s a clearer longer video. Share this so much that the power of information defeats misinformation and deceit. 1 RT = 1 slap on Bagga’s face#JNUViolencepic.twitter.com/izm4nReKNDhttps://t.co/PUexXlSwAc
— Roshan Rai (@TheRoshanRai)January 6, 2020
On doing a simple keyword search on both Twitter and Facebook, we came across a video on Facebook which was listed under an event page titled ‘Occupy Gateway’.
Umar khalid at #OccupyGateway
Occupy Gatewayಅವರಿಂದ ಈ ದಿನದಂದು ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ ಮಾಡಲಾಗಿದೆ ಭಾನುವಾರ, ಜನವರಿ 5, 2020
On listening to the audio carefully, between 3:10 and 3:16, Khalid clearly mentions, “Jaativaad se Azaadi, aur Manuvaad se Azaadi, aur Sanghvaad se Azaadi.” This translates to, Freedom from casteism, freedom from the proponents of the Manusmriti and freedom from the proponents of the Sangh. A YouTube Livevideofrom a local news portal Galli News with better audio quality from 52:40 minutes onwards also proves the same. The utterance of ‘Hinduon’ cannot been heard in anyway.
A detailedreportof the online war between Bagga and Khalid has been covered by the Free Press Journal as well. The report mentions that Khalid accused Bagga of lying and spreading lies.
Lies, brazen lies. Paid pipers of the regime are here to spread lies so that we get busy countering them. And lose focus from the ABVP violence against JNU students. Not happening, shithead. Find a better lie next time.https://t.co/LIQWD07TQd
— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU)January 6, 2020
Repeating again, find a better lie next time shithead.https://t.co/blUNtvhoPA
— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU)January 6, 2020
The person from whom BJP Spokesperson sourced the video, later again posted a clarification saying that there was no such slogan of “Hinduo se aazadi”. Thus the allegation Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga said that he was forced to delete the video is a lie too.
I deleted the video because I had no i idea you will misrepresent it & spread it as a hate speech I still have the 17 sec video also the whole recording where it is clear there were no such slogans chanted which you are talking about.https://t.co/YOgYkC6cGi
— Sayyed Anzar (@ItsAnzar)January 6, 2020
The slogan made in the video is “Sanghvaad se Azaadi” and not ‘Hinduon se Azaadi’. The audio in the video was not clear, thus misleading many Twitter users with inflammatory claims. Hence, the claim made by Bagga stating that Khalid said ‘Hinduon se Azaadi’ is false.
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Also Read:Fact Check: Old Video Shared With Claim Of Anti-CAA Protesters Burning Hindu God Posters
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Written by : Shoubhik Ghosh (Intern)
Edited by : Bharat Nayak