Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
Claim
Former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari, is the “real uncle of Mukhtar Ansari”.
Fact
Hamid Ansari and Mukhtar Ansari are distant relatives and belong to the same clan but they are not “sagey chacha-bhateeja”
Following the high-profile killing of Atiq Ahmed and his son Asad’s encounter by the UP Police, all eyes are now on another former gangster-turned-politician hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Mukhtar Ansari. A Five-time MLA from UP’s Mau assembly seat has been in jail for 15 years.
According to reports, a hearing for his case is scheduled for April 26th, thereby putting Ansari in the spotlight. Currently imprisoned in Banda Jail in UP, Ansari is facing almost 60 charges cases related to land grab, murder, and extortion.
Newschecker has found posts on social media claiming that former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari, is the “real uncle of Mukhtar Ansari”.
The Hindi caption uses the term ‘sagey chacha’ which implies that Mukhtar’s father and Hamid Ansari are siblings. The Hindi post translates to: “How many of you know that Congress senior leader and former Vice President Hamid Ansari and gangster Mukhtar Ansari are real uncle-nephew”.
The posts seem to suggest/imply collusion on the part of Hamid Ansari, a senior member of the Indian National Congress who was the 12th Vice President of India and Mukhtar Ansari by drawing a close family connection.
While such posts are viral on Twitter and Facebook, such speculations are not recent. Similar claims have been observed on the internet over the last few years. There are also some queries regarding the same on the social question & answer website Quora.
Fact Check/Verification
With the help of some keywords like ‘Mukhtar’, ‘Hamid’, ‘Ansari’, we found multiple news reports related to Mukhtar Ansari’s family. According to a report of AajTak, Ansari comes from a historically illustrious family of UP’s Ghazipur.
Mukhtar’s grandfather, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was a freedom fighter and was closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi. He was also the President of the Indian National Congress from 1927 to 1928. The late Brigadier Usman, a Mahavir Chakra awardee, is the maternal grandfather of Mukhtar Ansari. He was martyred in the Indo-Pak War of 1947.
The article further says that Hamid Ansari is the distant uncle of Mukhtar Ansari in relation. The Indian Express also described Hamid Ansari as one of the relatives of Mukhtar Ansari. We could not find any credible news report saying that Hamid Ansari is the “real uncle” of Mukhtar.
Speaking to Newschecker, Shuaib Ansari, son of the elder brother of Mukhtar Ansari and the sitting MLA from Ghazipur’s Mohammadabad assembly seat, clarified that Hamid Ansari is a distant relative and not an immediate relative of Mukhtar Ansari.
A member of Hamid Ansari’s extended family, who did not wish to be named, has additionally clarified that “Hamid Ansari and Mukhtar Ansari’s father were second cousins, not brothers. The fact is Hamid is not Mukhtar Ansari’s real uncle (chacha). They are from the same clan”. As per the family member, Hamid and Mukhtar’s father are grand nephews of freedom fighter Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari.
The family member also said that “there are many other members of the same clan who have held influential positions like Dr MA Ansari (founder of Jamia Millia and former INC president), Dr Shaukat-Ullah Shah Ansari (Ex MP and Ex-Governor), Hon. M Ahmad Ansari, former Chief Justice of Kerala HC, Hon. Asif Ansari, Justice Allahabad High Court and others. We are all one family. That way Mukhtar Ansari is also related to the Nizam of Hyderabad”.
Conclusion
After speaking with two family members of the Ansari family, we found that the former Vice President Hamid Ansari and Mukhtar Ansari are distant relatives and belong to the same clan and are not “sagey chacha-bhateeja” as being claimed by some social media users.
Result: Partly False
Our Sources
News Reports of AajTak and The Indian Express
Conversation with Mukhtar Ansari Nephew Shuaib Ansari
Conversation with one of the relatives of Mukhtar Ansari
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Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
