CLAIM
A video which shows many Muslims congregating on a road, multiple cars and buses parked alongside, is being circulated widely on social media.
The video is shared with the claim: “All along from St Columba's School to Shankar Road, on either side of the road – 2 lines of buses from various villages of UP, Haryana et al are parked. More then 2-4 lakh people are assembling around Talkatora Stadium for the Muslim Ekta Solidarity Show of Strength. Please DO NOT COME TO CENTRAL DELHI. With 2-3 lakh people assembling & situation in J&K as it – with the house arrest of Mehoboba, Shah, Abdullah & all Institutes closed you never know. So, please be careful & don't venture out to Central Delhi as a safety measure."
The Quint received the video and the claim from multiple concerned citizens on WhatsApp, asking for the truth behind it.
The video was also shared on Facebook but has now been taken down by the account which shared it on Facebook. An archived version of it it can be viewed here.
The claim was also widely shared on Facebook and Twitter by itself, warning people to stay away from Central Delhi for the purpose of safety, in the aftermath of Article 370 being effectively revoked in Jammu & Kashmir.
The message insinuates that a large number of Muslims have gathered near the Talkatora Statium in a show of solidarity in view of the turbulence in Kashmir, and that trouble can be expected.
TRUE OR FALSE?
While the video is from a real event, the claim accompanying it is false. The video is not from an event where members of the Muslim community gathered to protest against the effective revocation of Article 370.
While the video is legitimate, the claim with which it is accompanied is false. The video isn’t from an event where members of the Muslim community gathered in protest of the effective revocation of Article 370, but from a conference organised by a group called Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) in condemnation of the growing incidence of mob lynching in India, at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on 5 August.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On watching the entire video carefully, we heard a man asking another “What is happening here?” to which someone responded by telling him it was a conference.
Using the clue and with Talkatora Stadium in the claim, we ran a search of Facebook.
We came across a news article by a media outlet called Caravandaily, which said that Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had organised Aman and Ekta Sammelan at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
Picking up from this, we searched for “Aman & Ekta Sammelan at Talkatora Stadium”, which led us to a statement issued by the organisation regarding the event.
According to the statement released on Monday, the group had organised the gathering in view of “growing incidents of mob lynching”. At the end of the conference, they also issued a “Joint declaration in this regard terming the killing, burning, and elimination of unarmed vulnerable civilians in the name of religion or patriotism...”
The Quint also reached out to the organisation’s media officer, who confirmed that the video in circulation was indeed that of the people gathered outside the Jamiat Aman Ekta conference held at Talkatora Stadium on 5 August.
He told The Quint that the conference was not related to Article 370 or the state of affairs in Jammu & Kashmir in any manner, that it was purely about mob lynching incidents.
He also added that many people could be seen on the road because around 50,000 people had come to attend the conference while the Talkatora Stadium can only accommodate around 3,000-4,000 people.
So when the seats got filled, the gates were closed and people filtered out onto the road. Since there were people from not only Delhi but other places as well, they had nowhere to go and were hence gathered on the roads in that area.
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