A video of AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi allegedly praising Congress and its policies for minorities has gone viral with the claim that AIMIM has broken ties with BRS in Telangana.
The video was shared with the caption, “AIMIM ready to shake hands with Congress, sensing BRS defeat.” In the video, Akbaruddin Owaisi could be heard saying, “Take the history and see what they have done with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad or Ghulam Nabi Azad; they have forgotten them. What have they done with Jaffer Sharif Sahab? They just use Muslims for their benefit. If they have to work for Muslims, then they should join hands with AIMIM, and they will work together. (translated from Hindi)”
Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had extended the party's support to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) during the ensuing Telangana State Assembly Elections.
We observed the Aaj Tak logo on the top right corner of the video and searched for its original, using the keywords, “Aaj Tak, Akbaruddin Owaisi.”
Then we found the original and extended video on Aaj Tak’s YouTube channel, published on November 23, 2023.
In the video at around 3:45 timestamp, Akbaruddin Owaisi could be heard stating that Congress leader Revanth Reddy will definitely not become the chief minister of Telangana and appealed to the Muslims to not waste their vote on Congress. He further said that for 70 years in the country and in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for around 50 years, people have voted for them (Congress). “But what have they done? When they were ruling, they had the power to work on these promises but they only lied…” he said.
The statement made in the viral video, which occurred at the end of the video, has been clipped and shared on social media.
We also found no news stories about AIMIM joining hands with Congress during the Telangana elections.
Thus, we conclude that the viral video was clipped and shared out of context.
