A video showing Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati asking people to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), instead of “radical” Muslim groups has gone viral on social media to claim that BSP is supporting the BJP in the ongoing 2022 Uttar Pradesh State Assembly elections.
We, however, found that the viral video dates back to 2006 and was not a recent one. We also didn't find any news report talking about a coalition between the BJP and the BSP.
CLAIM
Those sharing the video wrote in the caption, "मुसलमान कट्टरपंथी हैं, चुनाव ना जीत जाए इसलिए मैने अपना वोट BJP को ट्रांसफर कर दिया।: मायावती".
[Translation: Muslims are fundamentalists, I have asked my voters to transfer their vote to the BJP so that they don't win the election.]
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
When conducted a relevant keyword search and found a video published on ABP News in February 2017. The news report said that the same 30-35 second clip was viral ahead of the 2017 UP assembly election and it was being used to claim that Mayawati was against the Muslim community.
The report said that the video was from 2006 during the local body elections in the state held between October and November 2006. The report had a longer version of the video.
In the video, Mayawati said, “You know that the mayor of Meerut was for our party but we didn't win this time? That’s because that seat turned into a Hindu-Muslim battle. You know that people of the Muslim community prefer fanatics. The candidate of our party was also a Muslim. But the sitting MLA, who left our party, made his wife contest the elections. You are well aware of the kind of radical statements he delivered and that led to Muslims becoming united for him. His wife could have won the election. The candidate of our party was not a fundamentalist. To stop the "fundamentalist" Muslim’s wife from winning the elections, I asked them [voters] to transfer their votes to the BJP.”
We then conducted a keyword search for news reports on BSP and local body polls of 2006. A report in the Hindustan Times, published on 11 November 2006 carried her statement about transfering votes to the BJP.
The report added that supporters of the turncoat MLA (Haji Yaqub Qureshi) burnt effigies of Mayawati because of the statement. The outrage prompted Mayawati to issue a clarification. “Some channels have shown that I have called the Muslims fundamentalists. Such twist to my statement is wrong,” she said, according to the HT report.
“Along with Islam, all religions have highlighted the spirit of brotherhood and harmony. No religion permits to sow the seed of discord in the society. Every one knows that Haji Yaqub Qureshi had always tried to cash in on hate. Even Muslims scholars have opposed the misdemeanor of the Haji. It was to ensure the defeat of the fundamentalist ideology, I got the vote of my party transferred to the party that was in a position to defeat Haji’s wife,” her statement added.
“Muslims are part of the Bahujan Samaj and I have never called Muslims fundamentalists,” she said.
A PTI report published in The Times of India in November 2006 also talked about Mayawati's statement and the outrage that followed.
Evidently, an old video was shared to falsely claim that the BJP and BSP are working together for the Uttar Pradesh elections.
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