Edited video shared as Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi chanting Hindu prayer

By: Rajeswari Parasa
March 14 2024

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Screenshot of the claim circulating online (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

A 34-second video on social media depicts Asaduddin Owaisi, the Member of Parliament from Hyderabad, purportedly reciting the Shiva Tandava Stotram—a Hindu religious hymn in honor of the deity Shiva. This claim gained traction following the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) announcement of Dr. K Madhavi Latha, a noted cultural activist and religious speaker, as their Hyderabad candidate for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The video was shared on X (previously known as Twitter), accompanied by a Telugu caption suggesting that "Saheb Saab" (a reference to Owaisi) was reciting the prayer to appeal to voters, as he is running against Latha. Archived versions of similar posts are accessible here and here.

Screenshot of the social media post (Source:YouTube/Screenshot/Modified By Logically Facts)

However, the video of Owaisi is digitally altered. 

What did we find?

A close look at the viral video showed several discrepancies in the movements of Owaisi’s lips. Especially at 0.18 in the video, Owaisi’s face gets elongated unnaturally, indicating that the video has been digitally tampered with. 

Further investigation led to the discovery of the original video from an October 2022 speech by Owaisi, posted on the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)'s official YouTube channel. He was addressing a public meeting at Bijapur in Karnataka. The setting and Owaisi's attire in the original footage match those in the altered video, but without any Hindu prayers being recited.

Upon examining the video, similar hand movements and gestures were observed between the timestamps of 9:39 and 9:56, matching those in the viral clip. Further comparison revealed that this 17-second segment from the 2022 video was slowed and extended to create the 34-second clip in question.

Comparison between original video and viral video (Source: YouTube/AIMIM/X)

In the original speech, Owaisi addresses issues related to meat sales, high-cost exports, and the perceived demonization of Muslims under the then-BJP government in Karnataka. He sarcastically remarks in Hindi that "poor people should cease consuming meat and perish, enabling exporters to thrive." Subsequently, he criticizes the former Karnataka Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, over allegations of corruption within that administration.

 

Additionally, Owaisi's original comments critiquing the government's stance on meat consumption and corruption were entirely unrelated to the claims made in the viral video. His speech also included a vision for inclusive leadership in India, reflecting on his desire to see a woman wearing a hijab as prime minister, as reported by Firstpost.

Screenshot from the Firstpost article (Source: Firstpost/Screenshot)

The verdict

The speech by Asaduddin Owaisi, Member of Parliament from Hyderabad, during a 2022 meeting in Bijapur, Karnataka, has been manipulated to depict him chanting a Hindu prayer falsely. The evident discrepancies in the video confirm it has been edited. Thus, we have marked this claim as fake.