Two videos (here and here) circulating on social media claim to show Muslims protesting in Mumbai, demanding the arrest of preacher Ramgiri Maharaj for his alleged derogatory comments about the Prophet, and BJP MLA Nitesh Rane for supporting his statement. This post is shared in the context of the recently held “Tiranga Samvidhan Rally” by AIMIM. Let’s uncover the truth behind these videos in this article.
Claim: Videos show a massive gathering at a Muslim rally in Mumbai organized by the AIMIM.
Fact: The first video features thousands of Catholics in East Timor attending a Mass with Pope Francis during his three-day visit to Timor-Leste on 10 September 2024. The second video shows a crowd gathered to welcome the Indian cricket team during their victory parade at Marine Drive in Mumbai on 04 July 2024. Both videos have no connection to the “Tiranga Samvidhan Rally.”Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
A reverse image search of the keyframes from the first viral video led us to a social media post dated 12 September 2024 that matched the viral video. The post was captioned, “More than 600,000 people attended the Holy Mass at Taci Tolu, Timor-Leste on 10 September 2024. The group of people following us greets the Holy Father.”
A Google keyword search led us to a Reuters report which revealed that the video shows hundreds of thousands of Catholics in East Timor attending a Mass with Pope Francis during his three-day visit to Timor-Leste on 10 September 2024.
When we compared the posters in the viral video with those in the Reuters video, we found that both visuals featured the same posters.
Additionally, we located the exact spot where the viral video was filmed using Google Maps Street View. The location is in East Timor, near Dili, the capital city.
A reverse image search of the keyframes from the second viral video led us to a similar video on The Print YouTube channel, published on 04 July 2024. The video description revealed that it features the crowd gathered to welcome the Indian cricket team during the victory parade at Marine Drive in Mumbai.
Upon comparing both videos, we identified several similarities, which can be seen below.
We located the exact spot where the viral video was filmed using Google Maps Street View, the location is Marine Drive in Mumbai.
We also found media reports (here and here) stating that on 23 September 2024, over 12,000 members of the Muslim community, led by former MP Imtiaz Jaleel of AIMIM, marched through Mumbai, demanding action against BJP MLA Nitesh Rane and preacher Ramgiri Maharaj for hate speeches during the “Tiranga Samvidhan Rally.”
To sum up, unrelated visuals of crowds in East Timor and the Indian cricket team’s victory parade have been falsely linked to the AIMIM Mumbai rally.
