Did Muslims Raise Aurangzeb’s Image During Bageshwar Dham Sarkar’s Yatra? No!

The video is from Maharashtra and is unrelated to Sarkar's yatra scheduled to take place in Madhya Pradesh.

Fact-Check | The claim is misleading as the video is not from Dhirendra Krishna Shastri's rally.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video is being shared on the internet to claim that it shows Muslims displaying images of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb and raising provocative slogans during the padayatra of Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, also known as Bageshwar Dham Sarkar.

What do viral posts say?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium user shared the clip with a caption that said, "During the padyatra of Baba Dhirendra Shastri ji in Bageshwar, Muslims showed Aurangzeb's photo and raised slogans - Aurangzeb tera baap Aurangzeb tera baap. Hindus showed great peace..."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

The post had gained over two lakhs on the platform. You can view archives of similar such claims here, here, and here.

What is the truth?: The video actually shows visuals from Mohammad Jaweed's rally, who was contesting from the Aurangabad Central seat in Maharashtra.

Hints in the viral video: We went through the viral clip and found a poster carrying texts that urged others to vote for Javeed Qureshi. The location was identified as Aurangabad.

• Further, we noticed that the election symbol of Shiv Sena (SS) and the flag of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could also be seen.

• Both sides could be seen raising slogans.

The location was mentioned as Aurangabad.

(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

• Taking hints from this information, we performed a keyword search using the words "जावेद हुसैन औरंगाबाद रैली औरंगज़ेब" and found the same visuals uploaded on a Facebook handle named 'Javeed Qureshi'.

• The video was published on 18 November and its caption when translated to English said, "Aurangabad Madhya Vanchit candidate Javed Qureshi clashed face to face with Pradeep Jaiswal in the rally, showed Aurangzeb (rh) photo and raised slogans of Zindabad."

Other sources: We found similar visuals of supporters of Qureshi raising pictures of the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb published on an unverified YouTube channel named 'Aurangabad Updates'.

• It was titled, "Aurangabad Central: Workers reached Javed Qureshi's bike rally carrying Aurangzeb's photo and shouted slogans of Zindabad."

Details about Aurangabad Central seat: Qureshi was Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi party candidate for the aforementioned seat. While he stood fourth, Shiv Sena candidate Pradeep Jaiswal was declared as the winner.

The seat was won by the SS candidate.

(Source: Election Commission of India/Screenshot)

About Sarkar's padayatra: According to Sarkar's official Instagram handle, the padayatra was scheduled to take place in Madhya Pradesh from 21 to 29 November.

• This showed that the video has been available on the internet before the padayatra started.

Conclusion: While we couldn't verify the slogans raised in the viral clip independently, it is clear that the clip is unrelated to Sarkar's padayatra in Madhya Pradesh.

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