GUWAHATI: Controversy erupted in Silchar, Assam after reports of alleged 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans being raised by All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). A video of the same was widely circulated on social media platforms claiming that the supporters greeting AIUDF supremo Badruddin Ajmal chanted 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans.
Various political leaders including senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass also posted the same.
After his comments, the issue reached the national mainstream and was raised in different media platform. The state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass also questioned the behaviour as anti-national.
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"Disgusted by this outrageous attitude of followers of Badruddin Ajmal. He doesn't have the right to call himself the representative of a constituency of India. Is this anti national behaviour some new formula of AIUDF and Congress for political gains?" Dass posted on Twitter.
Following this, the state Congress which in political circles is considered to be in coalition with the AIUDF also issued a statement. "The Government should immediately direct the police to question the assembled people, analyze all available video footage and utilize forensic technology to ascertain whether the word used before the word ‘zindabad’ was actually ‘Pakistan’ or something else. If the word ‘Pakistan’ was actually used, then those guilty of this nefarious act must be identified and brought to book," Leader of Opposition (LoP) Debabrata Saikia stated.
Meanwhile, the AIUDF has condemned the allegations made by the BJP as an attempt to distort the "facts".
Responding to the tweets, the party tweeted, "the slogan was 'Aziz Khan Zindabad'. But why would you care about facts, after all you are the State President of BJP. The party whose forte is distorting facts, telling lies and spreading misinformation."
With different political parties taking different stands, an investigation regarding the chants is set to begin. The Cachar Additional SP, J Das stated that "investigation underway, we will take action," on pro-Pakistan slogans.
Meanwhile, Facebook has flagged the original video shared by state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as 'false information' on the basis of fact-check conducted by an independent fact-checker.
People are now divided over the video with a section alleging that the video duly stated 'Pakistan Zinbadad'. Others have cited it was ‘Azim Khan Zindabad’, who is an MLA from AIUDF.
The news regarding the chants of Pro-Pakistani slogans been verified by an independent fact checker which stated that people indeed shouted Azim Khan and not Pakistan. However, the parameters through which they verified were limited to "closer hearing" and "AIUDF’s response".
Due to the bad quality of the audio, the veracity of the claims still remains unclear. As such, Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan has urged for examination the CCTV footage.
A lot of ambiguity surrounds the issue and one can only ascertain the real incident once a full-fledged enquiry is made. Till then, the issue is expected to be used as a political rhetoric from both side of the political spectrum.
