Claim
I still can’t believe this…Imam Bukhari joins BJP. Can anybody confirm? केजरुदीन कैसे चूक गया..
Rating
Explanation
A video of a person greeting Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid with a garland is shared widely on Twitter to claim that Imam Bukhari joins BJP. The poster with the photos of Imam Bukhari and PM Modi can be seen behind in the viral video. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here, here and here.
हिंदुस्तान के राजा शाही इमाम ज़िंदाबाद। pic.twitter.com/r9EHULDukA
— Nighat Abbass🇮🇳 (@abbas_nighat) March 15, 2023
What is the truth?
The viral video shows a poster in the stage backdrop that has the photos of PM Narendra Modi, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Former Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid with a BJP lotus logo.
Dr. Harsh Varshan and Syed Ahmed Bukhari are seen in the viral video. When searching the Twitter page of Dr. Harsh Vardhan, we found multiple videos of him and Syed Ahmed Bukhari addressing the crowd, and an image taken on the same occasion from which the viral video was also taken are found posted on 11, March 2023.
The event is found as laying the foundation stone of a toilet under ‘Swachh Bharat’ in Delhi’s Jama Masjid. Dr. Harsh Vardhan captioned an image taken from the occasion “Building toilets with dignity under #SwachhBharat has brought tremendous health benefits for all, especially women. In this sequence, today I laid the foundation stone of a toilet near Gate No. 01 of Delhi’s ‘Jama Masjid’ with my MP fund.” This image has the matching visual from the viral video.
He also tweeted two videos of Syed Ahmed Bukhari speaking at the event. And in one of the videos, Syed Ahmed Bukhari is seen praising Dr. Harsh Vardhan for helping in providing basic facilities needed in Jama Masjid which is visited by several people across the world. This video is captioned “This is my duty Shahi Imam Bukhari Sahab! Jama Masjid, Delhi is famous not only in India but all over the world! I do not accept any deficiency near this place of worship.”
ये तो मेरा कर्तव्य है शाही इमाम बुखारी साहब!🙏🏻🙏🏻
जामा मस्जिद, दिल्ली न केवल हिंदुस्तान बल्कि पूरी दुनिया में मशहूर है!
इस इबादतगाह के पास कोई कमी मुझे मंजूर नहीं।@BJP4Delhi @swachhbharat #JamaMasjid pic.twitter.com/yLra3rOABX
— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) March 11, 2023
The other one is captioned “Respected Shahi Imam Bukhari Sahib, your words are no less than a blessing for me. These words of yours give me the strength to continue serving the people of the area. The area of Jama Masjid is fixed in my mind. My childhood was spent around this.”
आदरणीय शाही इमाम बुखारी साहब, आपके ये शब्द मेरे लिए किसी आशीर्वाद से कम नहीं।
आपके इन्हीं शब्दों से मुझे क्षेत्रवासियों की अविरत सेवा करने का बल मिलता है।
जामा मस्जिद का क्षेत्र तो मेरे मन में रचा-बसा है। इसके आस-पास ही मेरा बचपन बीता है। @BJP4Delhi #JamaMasjid pic.twitter.com/EtMDqe8sCG
— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) March 11, 2023
In addition to it, an article by ETV Bharat mentions that Syed Ahmed Bukhari denied the claim that he joined BJP.
Conclusion
It is found that a video taken from an event organized to lay the foundation stone for a toilet near Delhi’s Jama Masjid is falsely shared as Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid joined BJP.
