A video of Rahul Gandhi offering namaz with Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and a few members of the Muslim community is viral on social media. A Facebook page भारत :An Untold Story shared the video with the caption – “In the Video Clipping, the Muslims are taking Oath in front of Rahul Gandhi and Gulam Nabi Azad against Hindus & Hinduism demolition in India. They are praying for the Muslim Kingdom in India.” At the time of writing this article, the video had 10,000 views.
https://www.facebook.com/BHARAT.untoldstory/videos/288802565321268/?t=0
Another page NaMo Mantra:- Nation FIRST shared the video with the identical narrative. It received over 8,500 views.
The clip has been circulated on Twitter as well, including by those followed by railway minister Piyush Goyal’s office (1, 2, 3, 4).
In fact, the video is viral on social media.
Old video of Rahul Gandhi offering a tribute
Alt News had debunked the same video when it was viral in December 2018 with claims that Gandhi converted to Islam after the assembly elections.
However, the truth is that the video depicts the Congress President paying tribute at Ambedkarnagar’s Kichhocha Sharif Dargah. We had found a December 10, 2016 video uploaded by news organisation Sahara Samay, which reported, “After attending a meeting at Shivbaba in Ambedkar Nagar, UP, Rahul Gandhi reached the famous Sharif Kichhocha dargah and on the tomb of Makhdoom Sahab, offered tribute” (approximate translation).
This news was also reported on September 10, 2016 by Aaj Tak with the headline, “Rahul Gandhi pays tribute at Ambedkarnagar’s famous Kichhocha Sharif dargah” (approximate translation).
Rahul Gandhi has often found himself in the cross hairs of misinformation attempting to portray him as a Muslim sympathiser. Earlier, his photograph shot during a temple visit in MP was viral was him offering Namaz.
This article was first published at Alt News.