A viral news clip claims that Muslim organizations like Jamaat-e-Islami and Raza Academy have set five conditions for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in exchange for a fatwa to secure Muslim votes in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections (here, here, and here). The conditions reportedly include appointing a Muslim deputy CM, ensuring 25% Muslim representation in the Cabinet, addressing the Waqf Board issues, providing financial support to madrasas and Urdu schools, and granting reservations for Muslims. The video alleges that MVA leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar have agreed to these demands. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Muslim Ulema have presented a five-point demand to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in order to secure Muslim votes in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, which has been accepted by Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra.
Fact: The viral video is edited. The scrolling in the video suggests it was published by Aaj Tak in February 2020, but it covered news about Kejriwal winning the Delhi elections. We couldn’t find any reports confirming that the Ulema presented five demands accepted by Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Aaj Tak confirmed that the font used in the viral video is different from their standard font and that the viral video is fake. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
In the initial part of the video clip, we noticed a news scroll about Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Varanasi, where he opened a hospital at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and launched the Mahakal Express between Varanasi, Ujjain, and Omkareshwar.
When we conducted a relevant keyword search based on the news ticker, we found several media reports (here, here, and here) from 2020 that mentioned PM Modi’s inauguration of the Mahakal Express. On the other hand, we did not come across any credible media report regarding the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra accepting the five-point demand of Muslim Ulema.
Further, We found a video on Aaj Tak’s YouTube channel (archived), uploaded on 16 February 2020, that matches the text from the news ticker in the viral video. However, this video focused on the Aam Aadmi Party’s third victory in Delhi. The comparison between the actual and viral video can be seen below.
Subsequently, we found that the clip of Uddhav Thackeray used in the viral video is actually from 2019, when he visited Raj Bhavan to meet the then Governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, before forming the government.
Additionally, the font used in the viral video to list the demands of Muslim organizations is different from Aaj Tak’s usual bold font style. We checked Aaj Tak’s website, YouTube channel, and social media accounts but found no report or video suggesting that Muslim organizations demanded a deputy chief minister position for Muslims from the MVA. Aaj Tak also confirmed that the font used for the demands in the video is not the same as their standard font.
To sum up, Muslim Ulema has not presented a five-point demand to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance to secure Muslim votes in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
