A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of thousands of Muslims offering Namaz on a road in India. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of thousands of Muslims offering Namaz on a road in India.
Fact: This photo shows an old incident of thousands of Muslim devotees offering prayers at the Bishwa Ijtema, an annual pilgrimage in Tongi, Bangladesh. This photo has nothing to do with India. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found shared on the Instagram handle of Ratan Dhar, a photographer based in Bangladesh. He described it as visuals of a Muslim gathering during the Bishwa Ijtema festival in 2019. Bishwa Ijtema is a pilgrimage event that is being held annually near the bank of the Turag river in Tongi, Bangladesh. Ratan Dhar shared the same photo on his website.
On observing the photo carefully, we could see the text ‘BRTC’ written on the bus seen in the photo. On comparing the photos of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) double-decker bus with the bus seen in the photo, it can be confirmed that the bus seen in the photo belongs to the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation. The same photo was found published on the ‘Alamy’ website with a description, “Muslim pilgrims pray at the Bishwa Ijtema in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bishwa Ijtema is the largest Islamic congregation of the world”.
Several Bangladesh-based news portals published articles reporting the Bishwa Ijtema annual event held in 2019. They can be seen here and here. The ‘Dhaka Tribune’ had published a similar photo as shared in the post while reporting the 2019 Bishwa Ijtema event. There are several instances of Indian Muslims offering Namaz on public roads. Articles that reported such instances can be seen here and here. But the photo shared in the post does not show a Muslim gathering in India.
To sum it up, an old photo of a Muslim gathering in Bangladesh is shared as visuals of Muslims offering Namaz on a road in India.
