Did Umar Khalid Chant ‘Hinduon Se Azadi’? BJP Makes False Claim

Umar Khalid took to Twitter and claimed that Bagga’s tweet was spreading lies.

A video shared by BJP Delhi’s spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga falsely claims that Umar Khalid raised ‘Hinduon se Azadi’ slogans during the JNU protests at Gateway of India. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

After an unruly mob entered the JNU campus on Sunday, 5 January, and brutally attacked students and professors, multiple images and videos were shared online with misleading claims.

Catch the live updates of the JNU unrest here.

CLAIM

In one such case, BJP’s Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga took to Twitter to share a video of activist and former JNU student Umar Khalid allegedly chanting “Hinduon se Azaadi” slogan while addressing a gathering of protesters at Gateway of India, Mumbai.

An archived version of the video can be found here.

BJP Mumbai spokesperson Suresh Nakhua also shared the video with the claim that “Hinduo se Aazadi” [sic] was chanted in Mumbai.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ Screengrab)

Several social media users shared the video with the same claim on Facebook as well.

The video is viral on Facebook.(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The Quint analysed half a dozen videos from the event and eventually found a one hour 31 minutes long YouTube live streamed at the Mumbai event using keywords “Umar Khalid Gateway of India”.

At 52:54 minutes, Umar Khalid can be clearly heard saying, “NRC se (azaadi), NPR se (azaadi), CAA se (azaadi), manuwaad se (azaadi), sanghwaad se (azaadi), RSS se (azaadi)”

(Translated: From NPR (freedom), from CAA (freedom), from Manuvaad (freedom), from Sanghwaad (freedom), from RSS (freedom))

At no point, can he be heard saying “Hinduon se Azaadi” as claimed.

Further, The Quint accessed the footage of the gathering held in Mumbai via photographer Avani Rai. Though the frame is not similar to the one shared by Bagga, however, in this video too, Umar can be heard raising the same slogans as that of YouTube live.

Also, Umar himself took to Twitter and claimed that Bagga’s tweet was spreading lies.

Photographer Avani Rai, too, told The Quint that she was there at the gathering and did not hear any such chants.

Thus, Tajinder Bagga, along with several other social media users, falsely claimed that Umar Khalid had raised "Hinduon se Azaadi" slogans at the gathering in Mumbai held on Sunday.

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