Clipped Video of Navjot Singh Sidhu Shared With a Communal Claim

In the longer version of the video, Navjot Singh Sidhu can be seen raising other religious slogans as well.

Fact-Check |Navjot Singh Sidhu and other members of Punjab Congress raised slogans of different religions to celebrate Charanjit Singh Channi's appointment as CM.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing Navjot Singh Sidhu with the newly appointed Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi and others has gone viral where Sidhu can be heard raising slogans of "Naara e Takbeer Allahu Akbar".

The 10-second clip has been shared by several users to claim that the Punjab Congress chief only raised slogans of "Allahu Akbar" [God is (the) greatest].

However, we went through the entire video and saw that Sidhu and other Congress party supporters present at the venue raised several religious slogans such as "Bole So Nihal... Sat Sri Akal", "Jaikara Veer Bajrangi Har-Har Mahadev" and "Naara e Takbeer Allahu Akbar". The slogans were raised while celebrating Channi's appointment as CM of the state.

CLAIM

A Twitter user, who shared the video, said, "Maulana Siddhu celebrating the oath taking ceremony of new CM #CharanjitSinghChanni with Naara-e-Taqbeer. Are these side-effects of friendship with Imran & Bajwa?", referring to Sidhu's 2018 meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan's Army chief General Bajwa.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Photo: Twitter/Screenshot)

A post on Facebook said, "मौलाना सिद्धू साहब* Charanjit Singh Channi के मुख्यमंत्री बनने पर ख़ुशी व्यक्त करते हुए। पीछे लगी वाहे गुरु जी की फोटो का तो सम्मान रख लेते।"

(Translation: Maulana Sidhu. Expressing happiness on Charanjit Singh Channi becoming the chief minister. Should have at least respected Guru ji's photo that is behind him.)

Similar claims were used by other users on Facebook, archives of which can be found here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The viral video had the logo of PTC News, a Punjabi News Channel, on the top-right corner. We looked for the clip and found it on the official Facebook page of the channel.

The title of the video, posted on 20 September, when translated from Punjabi to English using Google Translate said, "An atmosphere of celebration in the Congress after the appointment of Charanjit Channi as the Chief Minister, see Exclusive pictures."

An 00:36, Sidhu can be heard saying, "Naara-e-Taqbeer Allahu Akbar" while responding to chants of "Allahu Akbar". At the 01:05 mark, Sidhu and others can be heard saying, "Bole So Nihal... Sat Sri Akal". Further ahead at 03:04, Sidhu says, "Jaikara Veer Bajrangi" and the crowd in the room responds with "Har-Har Mahadev".

Naara-e-Taqbeer Allahu Akbar means the slogan of God (Allah) is the Greatest. Bole So Nihal... Sat Sri Akal or Jo Bole So Nihal... Sat Sri Akal is a Sikh war cry which means those who say that God is the ultimate truth are eternally blessed.

Jaikara Veer Bajrangi Har-Har Mahadev is a also a war cry used by people in from the Hindu community, which means God (Lord Mahadev) will remove distress of his followers.

Evidently, a video in which Sidhu was seen raising war cries from different religions was clipped to create a false narrative.

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