A spliced video of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) founder Badruddin Ajmal addressing a crowd is viral on social media with false claims that he threatened to convert Assam into an Islamic state if Congress and his party is elected to power. The spliced video, which has been made by merging several parts of a speech to make the false narrative, was also shared by multiple Assamese news outlets.
According to a news bulletin by Live News, the video was released by Twitter handle, Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), with the caption, "#Shocking Badruddin Ajmal @BadruddinAjmal threatens converting entire #Assam into an Islam with d help of @INCAssam @INCIndia. Is Congress in SECRET understanding with Ajmal for Partition 2? Sought immediate arrest of Badroo with @AmitShah @himantabiswa @assampolice @AssamCid". According to the bio of the handle, LRO is about "Legal Activism to safeguard Indian interest, human rights of armed forces and Hindu cause."
Click here for an archive of the tweet.
In the spliced viral clip, Ajmal can be heard saying, "In India, Mughal rulers have ruled for 800 years. This nation will be an Islamic nation. Whose ministry will it be? Our Mahagatbandhan will form the ministry; The government will form with UPA and Mahagatbandhan together. And in this government, your party UDF will hold a major stake. In the entire Bharatvarsha, they would not have been a single Hindu. All will be converted to Islam."
The video was also part of Assamese news broadcasters DY365 and Live News' bulletins. While the former deleted the video soon after netizens pointed out that the clip had been made by editing Ajmal's address, below is NewsLive's broadcast. Click here for an archive of the broadcast.
The video is viral in the backdrop of the Assam legislative assembly elections, that will be held between March 27 to April 6 in three phases to elect 126 MLAs.
The viral clip was also shared by multiple handles. Click here, here and here for archives.
Fact Check
BOOM found that the video has been clipped from Ajmal's address in Barpeta, Assam, ahead of the general elections in 2019. We found the original speech, in which Ajmal talks about the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and appeals voters to not vote for the Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party. Below is the address.
Ajmal discusses the general elections, 2019 and explains to the listeners about the significance of the elections. He says, "This election is (a few days after Ramzan) who will sit on the chair of Delhi as a prime minister."
He then goes on to say, "Do you know in this India, for 800 years, Mughal badshahs had ruled. They had reigned but had never dreamt that they will make this country an Islamic nation. If they thought that way then they would have converted all into Muslims and not a single Hindu would remain in their 800 years of reign. Did they make? (Crowd cheers: No) They did not even dare to. Then for 200 years, British ruled this nation. They also did not dare and make India a Christian nation. Did they dare? (Crowd cheer: No). Then after the nation was freed, between 70 years, 55 years was ruled by the Congress. From Jawaharlal Nehru, Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Narsimha Rao, none of them thought of making India a Hindu Rashtra. Modiji, don't dream about this. Your dreams will be left unfulfilled."
