Old Video From AP Shared as ‘Muslims Disrupting Hindutva Rally in Maharashtra'

Nellore SP Ch Vijaya Rao told The Quint that no communal clashes had taken place during the Hanuman Sobha Yatra.

A video of a group of people raising "Allahu Akbar" slogans – as a procession with people carrying saffron flags walks past them – is being shared on social media that it shows an incident from Maharashtra.

The claim: The ones who shared the video also said that it shows people from the Muslim community trying to disrupt a pro-Hindutva rally. It adds that had it not been for the police, the incident would have resulted in communal riots.

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here and here.)

But...?: The video dates back to April 2022 and shows an incident during a Hanuman Sobha Yatra in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh.

• Speaking to The Quint in April 2022, Superintendent of Nellore Ch Vijaya Rao had said that the Sobha Yatra "went off peacefully."

• He said that when the procession was passing a mosque "the DJ was made a little louder" followed by slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram'. He added that people inside the mosque raised 'Allahu Akbar' slogans in retaliation.

How did we find out?: The Quint had previously reported on this incident on 27 April 2022, when the video was shared claiming that the crowd inside the mosque had thrown stones and beer bottles at the procession.

• The incident took place on 24 April 2022 in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore city.

• Nellore Superintendent of Police Ch Vijaya Rao had told us that the people participating in the procession started playing loud music and blaring their bike horns. He had added that 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans were raised by the people in the procession and 'Allahu Akbar' slogans were chanted by people inside the mosque.

• Srinivas, a journalist working with ABP News who was on the ground when the incident happened, also corroborated the Superintendent's statement.

• We also ran a keyword search for news reports regarding any recent incidents like this one in Maharashtra, but did not come across any.

Conclusion: An old video of a Hanuman Sobha Yatra passing in front of a mosque in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh is being shared with a false communal claim that it shows tensions between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Maharashtra.

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