Fact Check: One-Year-Old Video Of Mohan Bhagwat And Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi Goes Viral With Misleading Claim About Lok Sabha Elections
The video featuring RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Dr Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi is about a year old, whereas the Lok Sabha election results were announced on June 4, 2024. The video is being shared with a misleading claim.
- By: Sharad Prakash Asthana
- Published: Aug 18, 2024 at 12:00 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News). A video of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat is going viral on social media. In the video, he is seen presenting garlands to Muslim attendees at an event. Some users are claiming that this video is connected to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Vishvas News investigated and found that the video features Mohan Bhagwat and Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of the All India Imam Organisation. The video dates back to July 2023, while the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections took place on June 4, 2023. Therefore, the video is not related to the Lok Sabha election results.
What is the viral post?
X-user Tribal Army posted the video (archive link) on August 13, 2024, with the caption,
“The outcome of the Lok Sabha elections has deeply impacted the foundations of the RSS, leaving it ideologically isolated.”
Facebook user Jaisingh Yadav also shared this video (archive link) with a similar claim.
Investigation
To investigate the video, we extracted the keyframes and searched them using Google Lens. We found pictures of this event on the LinkedIn profile of Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam. The post, dated about a year ago, mentions that RSS chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat, along with other dignitaries, attended the Dawat-e-Walima (reception) of Faizan Munir, son of Imam Umer Ahmad Ilyasi, on July 8, 2023, at Western Court, Janpath New Delhi. The post includes four photos from the event.
The video was uploaded on the YouTube channel Baravi on December 1, 2023.
According to the booklet released by the Election Commission of India regarding the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the first phase of the election took place on April 19, 2024, and the final voting on June 1, 2024. The counting of votes took place on June 4, 2024, with the BJP emerging as the largest party, winning 240 seats.
Former RSS provincial pracharak Rajiv Tuli confirmed that the person sitting with Mohan Bhagwat in the video is Ilyasi from the All India Imam Council and the video was recorded before the election results were announced.
As reported by Dainik Jagran on September 26, 2023, during his visit to Awadh, Bhagwat said that Muslims are no different from us; they are also ours. This country is as much theirs as it is ours.
We also reviewed the profile of the user who shared the video with the misleading claim. The user has more than 2.97 lakh followers.
Conclusion: The video featuring RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Dr Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi is about a year old, whereas the Lok Sabha election results were announced on June 4, 2024. The video is being shared with a misleading claim.
- Claim Review : After the Lok Sabha election results, Mohan Bhagwat attended a program of Muslims.
- Claimed By : X User
- Fact Check : Misleading
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