Viral image and video show Pope Francis rally in East Timor, not huge anti-BJP Muslim march to Mumbai

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a reverse image search to investigate the video.

Multiple Indian accounts shared an image and video on social media platform X since September 23, 2024, claiming that they showed a massive rally of Muslims heading to Mumbai demanding the arrest of BJP MLA Nitesh Rane and a right-wing religious leader. However, the image actually showed a rally for Pope Francis in East Timor.

Indian political party All India Majlis-i-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) launched a protest march under leader Imtiaz Jaleel on September 22, demanding the arrest of lawmaker Nitesh Rane and Hindu seer Ramgiri Maharaj over alleged inflammatory remarks against Muslims.

Two cases were filed against Rane after he threatened in a September 1 speech to attack Muslims and a mosque in defence of Maharaj, who was charged with making alleged derogatory remarks about Islam and the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) at a Hindu religious event in Nashik district on August 14.

HOW IT STARTED

On September 23, Indian digital media outlet Times Algebra posted photos of a huge number of people on the street, with the caption: “Big breaking news: Over one lakh Muslims are gathering in Mumbai for a huge rally against Nitesh Rane and Ramgiri Maharaj. Thousands of vehicles from different parts of Maharashtra are reaching Mumbai via Samruddhi Mahamarg disrupting traffic along the way.”

It further said: “Mumbai Police stated AIMIM leader Jaleel had not been granted permission to enter Mumbai. 3000 cops have been deployed.

The post gained 2.9 million views and nearly 4,500 re-shares.

An Indian account on X shared the full video with the caption: “This is not Pakistan or Bangladesh. This isn’t Iraq, Iran or even Afghanistan. This is our Mumbai where Muslims want to show their strength is out on the streets. Keep sleeping Hindus.”

The post racked up 831,000 views and over 4,000 re-shares.

The image and video of the rally were also widely shared by other Indian users as can be seen here and here.

The video was also uploaded on YouTube by an Indian account on September 23 with the title: “Muslim rally on Ramgiri Maharaj and Nitesh Rane”, gaining over 550,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and because some users were pointing out that the imagery being shared to whip up Islamophobic sentiment was not linked to the Mumbai rally.

A reverse image search yielded the same footage in a Facebook post from September 12, captioned: “Pope Francis welcome historic visit to Timoleste a country with 100 per cent Catholic root”.

A further investigation yielded the footage as part of a longer video uploaded on social media platform TikTok on September 11 with hashtags related to East Timor.

Posters of the pope could be seen on a wall in the video.

Around 600,000 people attended a Mass with the pope in East Timor on September 10 at a coastal park. The pope travelled to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore from September 2-13. East Timor, along with the Philippines, are Asia’s only predominantly Catholic countries.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding a viral picture and video showing a huge rally of Muslims in Mumbai demanding the arrest of BJP MLA Nitesh Rane and a Hindu seer is false.

The imagery is actually from Pope Francis’s visit to East Timor in September 2024’s second week while the rally to Mumbai was launched on September 22, almost two weeks later.