GUWAHATI: All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal has claimed that a viral video of him allegedly making a communal speech in a public rally has been doctored and circulated on social media to malign the party’s image ahead of the Assam Assembly elections.
Addressing a media conference on Wednesday, Ajmal said that the video clip, posted on Twitter by Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), a right-wing affiliated NGO, on Tuesday night “is fake and that parts from different speeches (made by him earlier) have been merged to seem that if the Congress-AIUDF alliance comes to power, it will make Assam an Islamic state”.
“This is a doctored video and if you see the actual video you’ll find that I was asking people that when Himanta Biswa Sarma called me a Mughal, I had said then that Mughals ruled the country for 800 years… but did they even think of making India an Islamic state…the British were in the country for 200 years, but did they dare to make India a Christian state. That is what I had said,” the AIUDF chief clarified.
He also said that he was willing to share the original video with the media to prove that the viral clip has been doctored.
“This is an attempt to spoil the party’s image ahead of the polls…we will take action,” he threatened.
The AIUDF and Congress have forged a grand alliance with five other parties ahead of the state Assembly polls “in a bid to prevent the BJP-led alliance from retaining power”.
It may be mentioned that the same NGO (LRO) had last year alleged that a charity trust Ajmal – Ajmal Foundation had violated the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010 by utilising only Rs 2.05crore of the Rs 69.55crore received (for education-related purposes) from the foreign agencies.
Subsequently, an FIR was lodged at Dispur Police Station by a right wing leader, alleging that the charity trust had taken funds from foreign agencies allegedly linked to terrorist groups and misused the money.
However, Ajmal countered the charge and even threatened legal action against people making “false allegations” against his charity trust. He also said that the charity trust was open to investigation by any agency.