Did PM Modi Visit The Tomb Of Mughal Ruler Aurangzeb's Son? A FactCheck

A video showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi offering flowers at a tomb-like structure, is being shared on social media with captions claiming that the PM had visited the resting place of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's son.

BOOM found that the viral video is from 2017 and shows the prime minister at the tomb of last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar in Myanmar.

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The Mughal king Aurangzeb has been in news recently after his tomb in Maharashtra's Aurangabad was shut down for five days by the Archaeological Survey of India earlier this month. The agency had reportedly taken this step after a mosque committee in Aurangabad, where the tomb is located, tried to lock down the ASI-protected monument.

According to an NDTV report, the mosque committee's decision to lock down the tomb came in after a reported tweet by MNS spokesperson Gajanan Kale questioned the need for the existence of the monument in the state.

A Hindi caption with a Facebook post sharing the video translates to 'PM Narendra Modi offering flowers and perfume on the tomb of Aurangzeb's son'.

(Hindi: #औरंगजेब के बेटे की मजार पर फूल और इत्र चढ़ाते हुए PM नरेन्द्र मोदी जी)

View posts viral with similar claim here, here and here.

The same video is viral on Twitter with a Hindi caption translating to 'PM Modi offering flowers on the tomb of Aurangzeb'.

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(Hindi: औरंगजेब की मजार पर फूल चढ़ाते हुए मोदी जी)

Fact Check

BOOM watched the video closely. At one point in the viral video one can see a portrait of the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Taking cue, we did a keyword search with 'Narendra Modi bahadur Shah Zafar' on YouTube and found several video reports from 2017 showing the same visuals.

A video report uploaded on the YouTube channel of Republic World on September 7, 2017 titled 'PM Modi Pays Tribute At Tomb Of Bahadur Shah Zafar In Myanmar' shows a slightly longer version of the viral video.

The video can be seen below.

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BOOM also found a Times of India report from September 7, 2017 about the prime minister's Myanmar visit.

The report stated that the PM had visited the grave of the last Mughal emperor in Yangon and paid floral tributes.

We also found the pictures from the PM's tour on a tweet from PIB's official Twitter handle.

It may be noted that Bahadur Shah Zafar had died at the age of 87 in then Rangoon where he had been exiled by the British after the revolt of 1857. According to a report published in The Indian Express, Zafar had died in 1862.

Aurangzeb's Successor

Aurangzeb was succeeded by his son Bahadur Shah I also known as Muazzam or Shah Alam I.

Historically speaking, after the reign of Bahadur Shah I, the Mughal empire went into a steady decline until it met its end with Bahadur Shah Zafar II being exiled to Myanmar (then Burma) after the 1857 rebellion.

Bahadur Shah Zafar, meanwhile, was the son of Akbar Shah II and Lal Bhai, states a BBC article.