A photo of the massive rally is in circulation on social media platforms with the claim of it being a protest over the Hijab curb in Bengaluru. In the photo, the crowd can be seen holding the blue flags and passing by a flyover.
Some of the users have claimed as Amdekarites protesting in support of Muslim minorities and some users have claimed it as solidarity protest for the Hijab wearing girls.
Facto News found out that the claims are misleading. A huge protest march indeed took place in Bengaluru on Saturday, 19 February; however, it was taken out by the Dalit community against a Karnataka district judge who had objected to placing BR Ambedkar’s portrait next to Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait.
A Twitter user, Mohammad Kaif, posted the photo with the caption that reads: “Ambedkarites in defense of Rights of Muslims as Minorities in Bengaluru or Bangalore in the state of Karnataka of the Union of India, on Saturday, February 19, 2022”
Kaif hasn’t directly linked the photo to the Hijab controversy but he has claimed the protest was in support of Muslims.
Another Twitter handle shared a screenshot of two different tweets containing two different photos. This handle has linked the photos with the Hijab controversy.
The caption along with the post reads: “Protests by others have started in solidaity with Hijabi girls. Perhaps, communal forces and Karnataka Govt are on a back foot. Effect will be seen in next 2-3 days. They have overstepped the Interim Order of HC. HC has advised Karnataka Govt to remain within its purview.”
One of the tweets contains the above photo and claims it to be a protest by Ambedkarites in support of the Muslim minority. The other tweet contains a candlelight vigil photo and claims it to be a solidarity march in support of Hijab wearing girls in Karnataka. (Note: We couldn’t independently verify the second photo and the claim along with it.)
The first photo along with the claims is also in circulation on Facebook.
FactO Check:
We came across a tweet of Clifton D’ Rozario, a member of CPI(ML) Liberation. Rozario posted four photos and one of the photos is exactly the same as the viral photo. Along with the photos, he writes that Dalit organisations on Saturday had mobilised Dalit in Bengaluru against the BJP government of Karnataka.
Dalit organisations mobilised this ocean of Dalits on the streets of Bengaluru on Saturday throwing an open challenge to the present communal and casteist BJP rule in Karnataka ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/hwhT8tttH1
— Clifton D' Rozario (@clifroz) February 20, 2022
Taking a cue from this, we searched about the Dalit protest in Bengaluru using relevant keywords and came across an article of The News Minute carrying the viral photo.
According to the article, the protest march took place on Saturday, 19 February and it was organised to demand suspension of Karnataka district judge who had on Republic Day objected to putting Ambedkar’s portrait next to Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait.
The rally doing the protest was so big that it prompted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to meet the protesters in Freedom Park. The CM accepted their memorandum and promised action.
We have highlighted the similarities between The News Minute photo and the viral photo for the better clarification of our readers.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it is evident from the above findings that the viral protest photo is not related to the Hijab controversy or Muslims in any way.