An image showing a religious procession held in Chittagong has been falsely shared as a sea of crowd photographed in a rally held by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi, in Uttar Pradesh.
The image has been shared in the backdrop of Owaisi's election campaign in the state, which began from western UP's Sambhal. According to a news report on ABP News, Owaisi visited Sambhal and Moradabad districts of western UP on July 15. He reportedly entered into an alliance with Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) to contest the UP Assembly elections, that is scheduled to be held next year.
The image has been shared with a caption in Hindi which reads, "Only Owaisi In UP"
Click here and here to see the image. Both the tweets are archived here and here.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on the photograph and found a set of four images tweeted by a user on November 10, 2019.
The caption of the tweet reads "World Biggest Jasne Juluse Eid E Milad-Un-Nabi Chittagong in Bangladesh. Leading by Awlad e Rasul Hozur Allama Tahir Shah (M.J.A) Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes #Mawlid #Mawlid2019 #MiladUnNabi #EideMilad #EiDeMiladunNabi #MawlidunNabi." (sic.)
Taking cue from the above tweet, BOOM ran a keyword search on YouTube, and found a video uploaded on November 11, 2019. According to the description of the video, it documented the huge procession of Eid celebrations in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The description reads, "Historical Jashne Juluse EID-E MILADUNNABI in Chattogram, Bangladesh." The caravan surrounded by a huge crowd can be seen near the flyover, in the video from 0:02 to 1:59 mark.
We also found a Facebook post from November 15, 2019 featuring the caravan driving through a sea of crowd under the flyover. The post has been captioned as, "Jasne Jalus, in Muradpur, Chattogram."
Below is a comparison of the viral image and a screenshot of the Facebook post.
BOOM was also able to trace the location, Muradpur, Chittagong, on Google Maps.
We found several video reports (here, here and here) about the event. Bangla News 24 on November 10, 2019 reported that the procession was held in Chittagong, Bangladesh on the occasion of Eid E Milad-Un-Nabi, birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad.
Click here to see the images of the event from a report of The Business Standard Bangla.
Additional reporting: Minhaj Aman, BOOM Bangladesh.