A video of angry farmers thrashing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Arun Narang in Punjab is being shared on social media as that of former UP Shia Shia Waqf Board chairman, Syed Wasim Rizvi, who recently moved the Supreme Court seeking removal of 26 verses from the Quran.
The caption along with one such video says, “#Punjab_News Waseem rizvi beaten by Sikhs at punjab”.
The voiceover in the video in Kashmiri translates to, “Congratulations to all Muslim brothers. Sikh brothers are beating Wasim Rizvi who filed a case in Supreme Court insulting the Quran. He had to hide inside a shop for his life with the help of the police. This is what happens to people who show hate.”
Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the claim along with the video to be misleading. The video shows BJP MLA from Punjab Arun Narang being thrashed allegedly by a group of farmers on March 27.
Wasim Rizvi, the former Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board chairman recently courted controversy for filing a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking the removal of 26 verses from the Quran, which he alleges “teach violence”. However, there were no news reports of Rizvi being beaten up by protesters.
After conducting a reverse image search, it was found that according to reports, the video shows angry farmers thrashing BJP MLA Arun Narang. As per a report by NDTV, “when Abohar legislator Arun Narang reached Malout along with local leaders to address a press conference, they got surrounded by a group of protesting farmers and black ink was thrown at them.”
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, Samyukta Kisan Morcha, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had condemned the attack.
Hence, it is clear that the man thrashed in the viral video is Punjab BJP MLA Arun Narang and not Shia leader Wasim Rizvi.
