Gujarat Waqf Board did not claim Beyt Dwarka islands; Anurag Thakur made false claim in Parliament
During the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, BJP MP Anurag Thakur made a statement about Beyt Dwarka, an important religious site associated with Hindu deity Krishna in Gujarat. He said that the Gujarat Waqf Board had claimed ownership over two islands of Beyt Dwarka. He sarcastically asked, “Did Islam originate before Lord Krishna?” Many users shared clips of Anurag Thakur’s statement in Parliament on social media.
Roshan Sinha, a BJP supporter who regularly amplifies misinformation and propaganda through his X handle @MrSinha_, tweeted a video of Thakur’s statement.
Mahesh Vikram Hegde, founder of propaganda website Postcard News, too, tweeted the video.
The video was also shared on X with the sane claim by Right-wing propaganda account Jaipur Dialogues run by Sanjay Dixit.
Readers should note that the claim made by Thakur has been doing the rounds since at least 2021. Several users, including Reliance Industries’ director of corporate affairs Parimal Nathwani, had amplified in the past.
Fact Check
Alt News performed a keyword search related to the matter on Google, which led us to a 2021 article by Gujarat-based media organisation Vibes of India. The report carries a statement by Gujarat Waqf Board chairman Sajjad Hira. In it, he clearly refutes the viral claim, saying, “The Waqf Board has not filed any application in court for any staking claim over any land in Beyt Dwarka. One petition was about Shiyal Beyt in Amreli district, which was not filed by the Waqf Board, but by a private Sunni trust, and as per the rules, we were only present there.”
Shiyal Beyt in Amreli district has no connection with Beyt Dwarka, which is in Devbhumi Dwarka district.
The report further states that the confusion was created by the alleged use of “Krishnanagari” in the high court. To clear the ‘misunderstanding’, BJP MP Poonam Madaam released a video saying that she had received information from various sources that the Waqf Board had filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court claiming two islands in Beyt Dwarka. But this was not true. “I spoke to the Law Minister and the Collector and I came to know that there are two islands named Shiyal Beyt in Jafrabad of Amreli district, which the judge had referred to the vacation bench. I think this confusion arose due to the word ‘Beyt’,” she added.
Speaking to GSTV News, the BJP MP had denied the viral claim in 2021 and said that the Waqf Board had not made any such claim.
According to a report of the Times of India dated March 20, 2021, a petition was filed in the Gujarat high court by the Sawai Peer and Itar Peer Dargah Masjid Trust stating that the authorities had prevented devotees from visiting Beyt Sawai, an island near Shiyal Beyt, citing national security. Along with this, the Trust had alleged that the authorities had given permission to build a temple on the land of the dargah and Waqf land had been usurped. Sawai Peer and Itar Peer Dargah Masjid Trust had also sought help from the Waqf Board.
More details related to this case can be found on the website of Gujarat high court. In this, the name of Gujarat State Waqf Board is not listed as the petitioner, but the respondent.
To sum up, BJP MP Anurag Thakur falsely claimed on the floor of the House that the Gujarat Waqf Board had claimed two islands of Beyt Dwarka. Ironically, this claim was earlier refuted by a BJP leader.
The post Gujarat Waqf Board did not claim Beyt Dwarka islands; Anurag Thakur made false claim in Parliament appeared first on Alt News.
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