No, this photo does not show Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi visiting a temple

By: Rajeswari Parasa
May 8 2024

Share Article:

Screenshot of the claim circulating on social media (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

A social media user shared a photo of Hyderabad Member of Parliament (MP) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi claiming he went to a temple for his election campaign. Owaisi, a four-time MP and the party's candidate from Hyderabad parliamentary seat, is up against the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) K Madhavi Latha. He has been conducting door-to-door campaigns ahead of the polling scheduled to be held on May 13, 2024.

The picture showing Owaisi wearing a garland and standing next to a priest has been shared with a caption that suggests that he went to a temple because of the BJP. Archives of similar posts can be found here and here.

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

However, the claim is misleading. The image is from Owaisi’s door-to-door campaign for elections and does not show him visiting a temple. 

What are the facts?

A reverse image search on the image led us to the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the AIMIM. The party shared this image and other images of Owaisi’s door-to-door election campaign in a post (archive here) on May 2, 2024. The post states that the photographs were taken in Moosarambagh and Indira Nagar of Malakpet when Hyderabad parliamentary constituency candidate Asaduddin Owaisi and Malakpet MLA Balala Ahmed were on their election campaign.

Screenshot of AIMIM's post. (Source: X/Screenshot)

Logically Facts contacted Asaduddin Owaisi’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Tauseef Mohammed, who said that Owaisi's picture with the was taken in Saraswathi Nagar in Malakpet. He added that it was a part of a door-to-door campaign, held on May 2, 2024. 

Several media outlets also published a video of Owaisi's campaign trail. A YouTube video by The Print (archived here) published on May 2, 2024, showed the priest being photographed next to Owaisi, garlanding him and offering him a saffron shawl. The priest also felicitated another man standing next to him. 

Mohammed also shared a video with us, which showed similar visuals, albeit from a different angle. In this video, at 57 seconds, we can see a man in a skullcap also garlanding Owaisi. See the video here below.

We also found similar visuals on other news media outlets — local news website Siasat reported on Owaisi’s election campaign and stated that he was garlanded during a door-to-door campaign.

We also found a ground report by another Telugu news outlet, RTV Telugu, (archive here). Their reporter, Devika, visited the area where Owaisi was garlanded. In the video report, she can be seen walking on the street and speaking to residents of the area. We can see the same brown gate as seen in the viral post. The video report shows that the location of the now-viral video is a street in Malakapet. 

A comparison shows that Owaisi was garlanded on the street, not inside a temple (Source: X/RTVTelugu/Screenshot)

We also spoke to Devika, who confirmed that Owaisi was garlanded near an ex-corporator’s residence and not inside a temple. She also informed us that the priest lived nearby and visited Owaisi for his door-to-door campaign.

The above evidence shows that the picture was taken during Owaisi's door-to-door campaign. All videos viewed by Logically Facts show the incident happened on the street. 

The verdict 

The photograph of a priest garlanding Asaduddin Owaisi was taken when Asaduddin Owaisi was campaigning in Malakpet, Hyderabad. This is not from a temple visit, as claimed. 

(Correction: An earlier version of this article wrongly identified AIMIM Public Relations Officer Tauseef Mohammed as Taufiq. The error is regretted.)