Image of Objectionable Hoardings is From UP's Pratapgarh, Not West Bengal

The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh on 12 August and the hoardings were later removed.

Objectionable hoardings put up in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh were widely circulated with the false claim that they were installed in West Bengal.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An image of objectionable hoardings attributing statements to Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik and Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, is being shared on social media with the claim that they were installed at a ground in West Bengal.

However, we found that the incident took place in Kunda region in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh on 12 August and the hoardings were later removed.

CLAIM

The hoardings claimed that Zakir Naik said that Muslims ruled over India for 1,110 years and that they converted several Hindus into Muslims. "They destroyed 2,000 temples and built mosques there. Hindus chant slogans of unity with Muslims because they fear us," the statement written on the hoarding read.

Regarding Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the hoarding stated that he said that Muslims are in majority in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Kerala, Hyderabad, Assam, because of which, Hindus should leave the area.

You can view the archived version here.

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

Several social media users shared the image on Facebook and Twitter and the archived posts can be viewed here, here, and here.

The Quint received multiple queries on the claim being made about the image on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We performed a reverse image search on Google and came across a Reddit link that suggested that the hoardings were put up in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh.

Next, we searched for news reports and came across an article published by Dainik Jagran and a bulletin carried by Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand.

Screenshot of the bulletin.

(Source: YouTube/ Screenshot)

As per the Jagran report published on 12 August, the hoardings were put on the boundary wall of TP Inter College in Pratapgarh's Kunda and statements were attributed to AIMIM's Akbaruddin Owaisi, Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan, Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik, Muslim cleric Noorur Rahman Barkati and Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari.

Further, the official Twitter handle of Pratapgarh police shared a video byte of a police officer saying that some miscreants had put up objectionable hoardings. On being informed about the incident, a case was registered and hoardings had been removed, the officer added.

Speaking to The Quint's WebQoof team, Circle Officer of Kunda, Arjun Singh said that an investigation is underway and no arrests have been made so far.

It is pertinent to note that we couldn't find any news reports on the statements attributed to various leaders, except for Maulana Nurur Rehman Barkati.

Earlier, he had made a statement on cow slaughter. As per a video uploaded on YouTube in 2012, he said, "We are not scared of any government. We do Qurbani (sacrifice) and if somebody comes, then we handle the person. Muslims are taking away cows because they are being sold."

But the viral visuals quote him as saying, "Muslims are not scared of any government because our population has increased. We don't argue like Hindus, we directly kill."

Further, these statements have been doing the round on social media for several years with some dating back to 2013 and the posts can be viewed here, here, here, here, and here.

Azam Khan, who was sent to jail in a fake birth certificate case, had said in 2013 that the viral statement being attributed to him was a "deep-rooted conspiracy to tarnish his secular credentials through the medium of social networking," a Statesman report mentioned.

Evidently, objectionable hoardings put up in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh were widely circulated with the false claim that they were installed in West Bengal.

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