A video is being shared on social media claiming that Ahmad Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in Delhi, had joined BJP in fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and IT raids from the BJP government. The video shows Ahmad Bukhari being felicitated with a garland in the presence of BJP leader Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing Delhi’s Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari joining BJP in the presence of Harsh Vardhan and other BJP leaders.
Fact: The video shows the visuals from a foundation stone laying event of a toilet near Gate number 1 of Delhi’s Jama Masjid. Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari, former BJP Minority Morcha President Abdul Rashid and a few other leaders from BJP attended this event organised by Dr. Harsh Vardhan. The video does not show Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari joining BJP. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
When we searched for the video using relevant keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals was found published by a Facebook user saying that the video is from an event organised for laying the foundation stone of a toilet near the Jama Masjid in Delhi. When we searched for further details, we found several tweets related to this event on the official Twitter handle of Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Harsh Vardhan in a tweet stated that the visuals are from an event of laying the foundation stone of a toilet to be built from his MP funds.
Harsh Vardhan said he had laid the foundation stone of a toilet near Gate 01 of Jama Masjid in the presence of Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari, former BJP Minority Morcha President Abdul Rashid and a few other leaders from BJP. Harsh Vardhan tweeted another video of Ahmad Bukhari’s addressing during the event. A few more images from this event can be seen here.
Several news websites have reported that Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari had condemned these social media rumours about him joining BJP.
To sum it up, a video from a foundation stone laying event of a toilet outside Jama Masjid is falsely shared as visuals of Jama Masjid Imam Ahmad Bukhari joining BJP in presence of BJP leaders.
