Update (18 October 2023):
The video that has been debunked below earlier is now being shared again with a claim that Congress MLA from Karnataka had misbehaved with the police when he was stopped while chanting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans. However, as explained below, the incident took place in Shaheen Bhag, Delhi, in November 2022. Also, the police arrested former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan for misbehaving with police officers on confronting him for holding a meeting without permission. Neither the FIR filed by the police nor the news reports on the incident mentioned that Asif had raised slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’.
Published (21 June 2023):
A video of a few persons wearing Congress scarves arguing with the police is viral on social media, claiming that an MLA of Congress raised the Pakistan Zindabad slogan during Rahul Gandhi’s program in Madhya Pradesh. Let’s understand the facts behind this claim through this article.
Claim: A Congress MLA misbehaved with the police when he was stopped by the police while chanting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans as part of a Rahul Gandhi’s program in Madhya Pradesh.
Fact: This incident took place in Shaheen Bhag, Delhi, in November 2022 and not in Madhya Pradesh during a program of Rahul Gandhi. The police arrested former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan for misbehaving with police officers on confronting him for holding a meeting without permission. The Shaheen Bhag police registered a case against him. But as stated in the post, neither in the FIR filed by the police nor in the news reports on the incident was it mentioned that Asif had raised slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. So, the claim made in the post is False.
On searching the internet using the appropriate keywords to find out the facts behind this claim, we found several news stories (here, here, and here) about this incident, dated November 2022.
According to reports, the man in the video who is misbehaving with the police is identified as Asif Mohammad Khan. Police tried to stop a meeting organised by Asif without permission at the Tayyab Masjid in Delhi’s Shaheen Bhag area, but Asif lashed out at the police.
The incident occurred during the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election campaign, in which Asif Khan’s daughter Ariba Khan was a candidate, and news reports claimed that Asif organised the meeting to support her. Nowhere in these reports, is it mentioned that this happened during Rahul Gandhi’s program in Madhya Pradesh. Police registered a case against Asif Khan on 25 November 2022 and arrested him for this behaviour (here and here).
There is no mention of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans in the FIR registered by the police and in the news reports about this incident. Further, if we listen carefully to the audio in the viral video, it becomes clear that Asif Khan’s followers were not saying Pakistan Zindabad but Asif Khan Zindabad. News organisations added the same video in their stories, which can be seen here and here. In these videos, too, one can clearly hear people chanting Asif Khan Zindabad slogans.
To sum up, a false story is being shared on social media that former Congress MLA Asif Khan’s argument with the police during the MCD elections in Delhi took place in Madhya Pradesh, during Rahul Gandhi’s program.
