Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
Claim:
Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind wrote a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking her not to support the Shiv Sena for the formation of a Government in Maharashtra.
Verification:
A claim is going viral on social media which states that the Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind president Arshad Madani has written a letter to Sonia Gandhi and called her decision to support Shiv Sena ‘very unfortunate’. The letter reads
“Mrs Sonia Gandhi Ji,
President,
All India Congress Working Committee
New Delhi
Respected Madam,
I hope you will be in good health & spirit. I want to draw your kind attention regarding Maharashtra’s bad politics, and it’s really unfortunate that you are considering to support Shiv Sena. It will be a very dangerous and harmful step for Congress Party.
I hope you take my suggestion in a very good spirit.
Thanking You,
Arshad Madani
President
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, New Delhi”
Media Reported The Communication
Many media outlets reported the letter allegedly written by Arshad Madani. The Print, TV9 Bharatvarsh, Jansatta, News Nation, Maharashtra Times and many others reported the one-way communication. However, The Print has deleted the article, an archived version of the same can be read here.
The archived version of the article published in TV9 Bharatvarsh article can be read here.
The archived version of the article published in NewsNation can be read here
The archived version of the article published in Maharashtra Times can be read here
The archived version of the article published in Jansatta can be read here
Who Is Arshad Madani?
Arshad Madani is the President of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind which is a 1919 established organization of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. To get more details about the organizations are office-bearers, refer to their official website.
Letter Poorly Aligned
If you see the letter, you can easily figure out the poor alignment i.e there is a space before full stop (.), even sentences are not properly aligned. However, it is not necessary that all poorly aligned letters are fake but in official communication, recognized bodies are less likely to commit such grammatical mistakes.
Email Id Mentioned In The Letter Differs From The Official Id
The email address mentioned in the letter is juh.org2010@gmail.com while the email address mentioned on the official website of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind is info@jamiat.org.in
Jamiat Ulma-I-Hind Denies The Issuance of Any Letter
Immediately after reading the reports in several media outlets we called Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind President Arshad Madani twice but he didn’t pick up. Then we called his Personal Assistant Fazal Arshad Madani. Fazal informed us that the said letter is ‘Fake’ and no such letter is issued by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind. “We informed ANI and other media agencies as soon as the letter came to our notice but unfortunately it has not been reported yet and the misinformation is still doing the rounds on social media,” he added.
The Letter Turned Out To Be ‘Fake’
In yet another incident, media falsely reports a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi written by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind president Arshad Madani which turned out to be ‘Fake’ in our investigation.
Tools Used
- Google Search
- Archive
- Twitter Advanced Search
Result: Misleading
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Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
