On Monday, several “left-liberal” news outlets and alleged journalists took to social media platforms to share a video of Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik, the chief of the influential Hindu activist group Shri Rama Sene, to claim that he had said that a Jamia Masjid in Karnataka’s Gadag “should be demolished”.
Imran Khan, a ‘journalist’ working for Times Now, put out a tweet on Monday saying that the Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik allegedly said that a new campaign would start to demolish Gadag Jamia Masjid.
The journalist also said that Pramod Muthalik is claimed to have said that the Jama Masjid in Gadag was a Tippu era masjid, which will be raised down, and a temple will be built in its place. An awareness campaign was also organised over this issue in Gadag, the Imran Khan tweeted.
*A new campaign will start to demolish #Gadag Jamia masjid & build Venkateshwara temple* says#SriRamSene Chief #PramodMuthalik. *This Tippu era masjid will be raised down and a temple will be built*. An awareness campaign was also organised over this issue In Gadag, #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/ZkoncOHzUk
— Imran Khan (@KeypadGuerilla) October 18, 2021
The video shared by Imran Khan spread like wildfire on the internet, which was soon picked up by several other left-liberal news websites.
The News Minute, a left-wing portal that has a history of peddling misinformation on Hindutva activists, put out a tweet saying that Pramod Muthalik called for a “Babri-like” demolition of the mosque in Karnataka.
In its report, the News Minute claimed that Pramod Muthalik had said that the Jamia Masjid in Karnataka’s Gadag “should be demolished” and claimed that he drew a parallel with the Babri Masjid demolition.
The report also claimed that Muthalik said that an erstwhile Venkateshwara Temple will be rebuilt in place of the mosque which exists now.
“We had to fight for 72 years for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. After 72 long years, Babri Masjid has been removed, and Ram Mandir will be built there. In the same manner, in Gadag, the Jamma Masjid that’s there, it’s a Venkateshwara Temple, and I’m telling it with full confidence that it should be razed,” claimed TNM its report.
The video was shared aggressively by radical Islamist groups to put out misleading claims that the Hindu activist had called for the demolition of a mosque situated in the Gadag district of Karnataka.
Hindutva Watch, a notorious Hinduphobic Twitter account that has constantly put out hate-filled content against Hindus, also claimed that the Muthalik had called for a demolition of Jumma Mosque in Karnataka’s Gadag in a similar way Babri Masjid was allegedly brought down in Ayodhya in 1992.
[English Captions]
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) October 19, 2021
Pramod Muthalik, the chief of Hindu extremist group, Sri Ram Sena promoting violence against Muslims.
In his recent speech, he called for demolition of Jumma Mosque in Karnataka’s Gadag in a similar way Babri Mosque was brought down in Ayodhya in 1992. pic.twitter.com/E5V0MJxV2O
Far-left news outlet NDTV too picked up the misinformation and proclaimed that the Hindutva activist had threatened to bring down a mosque in Gadag.
Controversial news anchor Sreenivasan Jain claimed that Muthalik warned about the demolition of a mosque to make way for a temple.
.@OnReality_Check | As attacks mount on minorities in #Bangladesh and its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s promise to hunt down those responsible, questions over Centre’s silence on attacks on minorities in India. pic.twitter.com/8kwuBBPFIA
— NDTV (@ndtv) October 19, 2021
However, the claims made the left-liberal journalists are far from the truth. Did Pramod Muthalik threaten to raze down a mosque in the Gadag district of Karnataka? Here is the truth.
Fact Check:
Contrary to the claims of the left-liberal media outlets, that Muthalik had warned against razing down a mosque in the Gadag district of Karnataka in a similar way to Babri Masjid, to make way for a temple, in reality, Pramod Muthalik never makes any such statement.
In a speech delivered in Kannada, Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik, seen with saffron head-gear, can be heard saying, “We had to fight for 72 years for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Finally, after 72 long years of struggle, Babri Masjid was removed, and we successfully built a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.”
Continuing, Pramod Muthalik says, “In the same manner, I can challenge you that the Jama Masjid in Gadag was a Venkateshwara temple. Take out the documents, and you will have proof that there was a temple. Like Babri Masjid, which was built on a temple, Venkateshwara Temple was one of the many temples demolished during Tipu Sultan’s rule, and Jama Masjid was built at the spot.
“We have proof, and we should launch a struggle,” Pramod Muthalik can be heard saying in the above 57-second video that has gone viral on the internet.
Interestingly, in the video shared by the left-wing outlets, there is not even a single reference to Pramod Muthalik calling for the destruction of the Jama Masjid in Gadag to make way for Venkateshwara temple. He simply lay his claim for the Venkateshwara temple that was existing at the premises before allegedly being demolished by the Islamist forces of Tipu Sultan, as claimed by Muthalik himself.
However, the media houses made false insinuations saying that the Hindu activists had claimed to demolish the mosque but does not provide any substantial evidence to prove.
Shockingly, TNM went to the extent of attributing quotes to Pramod Muthalik, which he had never uttered in the first place.
In its report, TNM claims that Pramod Muthalik had called for “razing” down the Gadag’s Jama Masjid.
However, there is no such reference to any such statements in the video shared by them in their report.
From the above video evidence, it is clear that Pramod Muthalik never called for the ‘Babri-like’ demolition of a mosque in Karnataka, and the claims made by the left-liberal media outlets and journalists are incorrect and false.
