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.<\/h3>\n
“Look at their flags. Flags of Palestine, Iran, Iraq, ISIS, Hezbollah.. No Indian flag,” read an X post<\/a> that shared the video on November 15, 2024.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n The footage shows a cavalcade with people waving the Indian tricolour along with flags of various Muslim countries and groups.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Screenshot of the false post taken on November 17, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Supporters of the Hindu nationalist BJP have often accused Congress of being more favourable towards India’s 200-million-strong Muslim minority.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The video was shared with similar claims elsewhere on X<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, the footage shows a religious Islamic procession in Latur district<\/a> of Maharashtra approximately 330 kilometers (200 miles<\/span>) from Akola (archived link <\/a>).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A reverse image search on Google found a longer version of the video posted on\u00a0YouTube<\/a> on October 1, 2024 (archived link<\/a>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (left) and the YouTube video (right):\u00a0<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nReligious procession<\/span><\/h3>\n