Old Clip on Badrinath Temple Falsely Linked to AAP Fighting 2022 U'khand Polls

The video dates back to 2017 when Maulana Abdul Latif Qasmi, vice president of Darul Uloom Niswan made the remark.

A video of a man claiming that Badrinath temple in Uttarakhand should be handed over to the Muslim community is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows the "early trends" as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to contest Uttarakhand Assembly elections in 2022.

However, the video dates back to 2017 when Maulana Abdul Latif Qasmi, vice president of Darul Uloom Niswan, made the controversial remark.

CLAIM

The man can be heard claiming that it's not Badrinath but "Badruddin Shah" and that it's a religious site of Muslims.

The claim shared along with the video reads: 'आम आदमी पार्टी के उत्तराखंड में प्रवेश के रुझान आनेशुरु हो गए हैं जागो हिन्दुओं जागो जागो उत्तराखंडियो जागो'

(Translated: Trends of Aam Aadmi Party's entry in Uttarakhand have started showing. Wake up Hindus)

Several social media users shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim and the archived version of the posts can be viewed here, here, here, and here.

The Quint received a query on the claim being made about the video on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We searched on YouTube using keywords 'muslim badrinath modi' and came across a video uploaded on 16 November 2017 by an account called 'VK News.'

The viral portion can be heard from 01:01 minutes in the 02:55-minute long video. The description of the video identified the man as one Maulana Abdul Latif Qasmi, vice president of Darul Uloom Niswan, an organisation based out of Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur.

Further, news channel India TV had carried a bulletin in November 2017 mentioning about how the man in the video had triggered a row with his remark on Badrinath Temple.

As per a 2017 report by Jansatta, priests and locals in Badrinath called Abdul Latif Qasmi a "lunatic."

Speaking to India TV, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had then said that this is "distorted thinking."

“It is an attempt to disturb the harmony and peace in society. We are taking cognisance of the matter and we will take strict action if required,” UP chief minister added.

Evidently, a video from 2017 was falsely linked to Aam Aadmi Party contesting the Uttarakhand Assembly election scheduled for 2022.

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