Did Aligarh Muslim University Students Raise Anti Hindu Slogans? A FactCheck

A video of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students sloganeering against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is viral on social media with claims that they were raising slogans about eradicating Hindus, while protesting. Multiple verified handles have shared the 20-second long clip accusing AMU students of anti-Hindu hate speech.

Amit Malviya, head of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national information and technology operations, tweeted a set of two videos of sloganeering students from AMU and Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia University with claims that students raised a 'clarion call for the ethnic cleansing of Hindus' on their varsity premises.

The first in the set of two videos shows students shouting slogans against Hindutva, Veer Savarkar and BJP. In the second video, students can be heard sloganeering against Hindutva and the government.

However, in the Hindi subtitles of the video, Hindutva has been wrongly referred to as Hinduon (Hindus). Below is Malviya's tweet and click here for an archive. 

One of videos has been used by OpIndia, a right leaning website, in an article titled, "Delhi: 'Hinduon se Azadi' slogans raised at Jamia Nagar where anti-CAB protesters set buses on fire". Click here to view an archive of the article. 

Santosh Ranjan Rai, national vice president of Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha, also shared the footage with a caption, "Graves of Hindus will be dug in AMU's hearts." (Original text in Hindi: हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर.यह भारत में सुनने को मिल रहा है भाई #AAPBurningDelhi)

FACT CHECK 

BOOM was able to access multiple videos on social media, where students can be heard clearly sloganeering about eradicating Hindutva, an ideology based on Hinduism, and not Hindus, as stated in the false claims. 

In a video uploaded to YouTube, by OpIndia, students can be heard chanting slogans about Hindutva and Narendra Modi.

At the 10 second mark, a student can be heard chanting, "We will claim our freedom from Amit Shah, Modi, Hindutva," as protesters gathered around chant in unison, "azaadi" (freedom). 

BOOM reached out to a student representative of AMU, Saddam Hussein, who rubbished claims of raising anti Hindu slogans. Hussein, a second year geography student from the varsity, said, "This is absolutely false. Thirty per cent of the students are Hindus in campus. Our protest is against the ideology of Hindutva and not a particular community. We do not breed hatred towards Hindus in the campus."

We also accessed a clearer version of AMU students sloganeering against CAA, with chants of erasing Hindutva and BJP and not Hindus. A video shot from another angle features the same protest outcry, where a student can be heard saying, "the graves of Hindutva will be dug in the heart of AMU. The grave of Savarkar will be dug in the heart of AMU. The grave of BJP will be dug in the heart of AMU. The grave of Brahminical patriarchy will be dug in the heart of AMU. Casteism's grave..."

Translated form Hindi "हिंदुत्व की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, सावरकर की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये बीजेपी की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ब्राह्मणवाद की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये जातीवाद की कब्र."

Amit Malviya did not respond to multiple attempts to contact him. 

(Note: This story has been updated to remove reference of 'Hinduon se Azadi' from the headline and clarify that the second video is from Jamia Milia Islamia University.)