Indian Muslim politician falsely accused of brandishing Islamic flags ahead of election

India’s main opposition party Congress is often targeted with misinformation that fans accusations it is more favourable to the country’s Muslim minority. In the latest case, a video spread online ahead of local elections purportedly showing supporters of a Muslim Congress politician brandishing flags from various Islamic countries and organisations. The footage in fact shows a procession for a Muslim holiday unrelated to the elections.

“Look at their flags. Flags of Palestine, Iran, Iraq, ISIS, Hezbollah.. No Indian flag,” read an X post that shared the video on November 15, 2024.

“Guess this election rally is from which country? This is in the secular Maharashtra state Akola west. Congress party candidate Sajid Khan Mastan Khan election rally.”

The footage shows a cavalcade with people waving the Indian tricolour along with flags of various Muslim countries and groups.

The post racked up more than 125,000 views as Sajid Khan, a Muslim politician from the Congress party, campaigned for the Akola West seat in Maharashtra elections — which he went on to win.

Congress teamed up with regional parties in a bid to unseat Maharashtra’s ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

Supporters of the Hindu nationalist BJP have often accused Congress of being more favourable towards India’s 200-million-strong Muslim minority.

While India is constitutionally secular, calls to more closely align the country’s political system with its majority Hindu faith have rapidly grown louder since Modi swept to power in 2014.

The video was shared with similar claims elsewhere on X and Facebook. 

However, the footage shows a religious Islamic procession in Latur district of Maharashtra approximately 330 kilometers (200 miles) from Akola (archived link ). 

Religious procession

A reverse image search on Google found a longer version of the video posted on YouTube on October 1, 2024 (archived link).

The video’s headline suggests it shows a procession to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid Milad-un-Nabi in the Latur district of Maharashtra.  

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (left) and the YouTube video (right): 

Another keyword search on YouTube found similar videos of a procession on local news channels Latur News Official and BharatSatta Live from September 2024 (archived link here and here).

Hamid Sheikh, editor of BharatSatta, confirmed that the clip in false posts showed an Eid Milad-un-Nabi procession in Latur, Maharashtra.

“The procession was taken out by citizens on Milad-un-Nabi on September 19, 2024,” he told AFP on November 20. 

“The procession began at Sophia Mosque in the city and passed through Main Road via Shivaji Chowk and Gandhi Chowk. This video was recorded near Gandhi Chowk.”

AFP confirmed the location of the video by comparing it to Google Maps imagery from the area (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post video (left) and Google Street View (right) with similarities highlighted by AFP: