An old clip of India’s home minister has been shared with a false claim it showed him suggesting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ordered the murder of a controversial politician. The false claim surfaced after the death of Mukhtar Ansari in March 2024, a former state assembly member in the Uttar Pradesh state who was jailed in 2005 for murder and illegal arms dealing. Authorities said he died of a cardiac arrest. The original clip actually showed Home Minister Amit Shah speaking in April 2019 about Ansari’s jailing.
“Amit Shah is saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party got rid of Mukhtar Ansari. Meaning, it is understood that the death was not due to a heart attack but was murdered by poisoning,” reads the Hindi-language caption to the clip shared on social media platform X on March 30, 2024.
According to the Hindustan Times newspaper, authorities opened a probe into his death after his family alleged he was poisoned while in detention. The probe was still ongoing as of April 4 (archived link).
In the clip, Home Minister Shah could be seen saying in Hindi the BJP gave northern megastate Uttar Pradesh “freedom” from several opposition politicians, including Ansari. He said in part: “BJP also gave freedom from Mukhtar Ansari.”
The clip was also shared with similar claims elsewhere on X and on Facebook here and here. But it predates Ansari’s death by more than four years.
Campaign rally
At the two-second mark of the clip, the date “10-04-2019” could be seen written in the upper left corner. Below is a screenshot of the frame, with the date highlighted by AFP:
A keyword search on Google found a longer version of the clip uploaded on the verified YouTube channel of the BJP on April 10, 2019 (archived link).
The headline of the video reads: “Shri Amit Shah addresses public meeting in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh: 10.04.2019.” The clip in the false posts corresponds from the 19:27 to 20:27 mark of the longer video.
In the video, Home Minister Shah could be seen campaigning for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh which at the time was battling against an opposition alliance made up of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
He said among the BJP’s accomplishments in the state was giving it “freedom” from “NIZAM” — his acronym for the names of SP-BSP alliance leaders Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Imran Masood, Azam Khan, Atique Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari.
He added: “If the SP-BSP alliance were brought back, then Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Imran Masood, Azam Khan, Atique Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari will again rule the state and riots will return.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip in the false posts (left) and the longer video uploaded by the BJP on YouTube (right):
Multiple news media — including The Times on India and The New Indian Express — also reported on Shah’s campaign speech (archived links here and here).
