Fact Check: Know the truth behind Owaisi’s claim about freedom fighters’ names on India Gate
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, recently at a political rally, claimed that there were names of 95,300 freedom fighters written on India Gate, out of which, 61,945 names are of Muslims.
Does the India Gate in Delhi have freedom fighters’ names inscribed on it? Are there 61,945 Muslim martyrs’ names inscribed on the historical monument?
The claim
According to AIMIM chief and Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, these facts are true.
Reiterating Muslim contribution to the country’s freedom struggle, Owaisi, recently at a political rally in Mumbai, claimed that there were names of 95,300 freedom fighters written on India Gate, out of which, 61,945 names are of Muslims.
Taking a jibe at PM Modi and RSS, Owaisi further claimed that out of all the freedom fighters’ names written on India gate, 65 per cent are Muslims.
The same claim is also found on Facebook and Twitter
The truth
India Today’s Anti Fake News War room (AFWA) found this to be a misleading claim. The names mentioned on India Gate are of martyrs, who had laid their lives for the British empire during WWI but not of the Indian freedom movement.
It is viral
Several Facebook users such as 'I Support Aimim Party' and 'Renu anand' posted similar content in Hindi which says, Out of total of 95,300 freedom fighters mentioned on the India gate, Muslim-61,395, Sikh-8,050, Backward-14,480, Dalit-10,777 , Upper-598, Sanghi-00people are shameless when they say that Muslim people are traitors in the country, the country has been looted by people of lower and backward caste. But look at the reality, you blind!
The fact-check
A brief history of India Gate
According to Delhi Tourism website, the foundation stone of India Gate was laid by Duke of Connaught in 1921, designed by Edwin Lutyens and inaugurated 10 years later by Viceroy, Lord Irwin.
During WWI, thousands of Indians fought for the British army as the country was under British rule. India Gate is a war monument which commemorates those 70,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British army during WWI.
The inscription
The word 'INDIA' is inscribed at the top of the arches on both sides flanked by the dates MCMXIV (1914) on the left and MCMXIX (1919) on the right. The following passage is inscribed below:
"To the dead of the Indian Armies who fell and are honoured in France and Flanders Mesopotamia and Persia East Africa Gallipoli and elsewhere in the near and the far-east and in sacred memory also of those whose names are here recorded and who fell in India or the North-West Frontier and during the third Afghan war"
The Martyrs
According to Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), the international organisation which maintains the martyrs’ list of World Wars, their monuments, and graves, 13,220 names of Indian soldiers who fell in WWI are inscribed on India Gate.
The list is mentioned on their website
It has many Muslim names along with other Indian and British soldiers.
But as per the principles of CWGC that "There should be no distinction made on account of military rank, race or creed," there is no mention of religion in the inscriptions on India Gate.
The conclusion
Many Muslims had given their lives for India’s freedom struggle, but this particular claim by Asaduddin Owaisi and some netizens that there are names of freedom fighters inscribed on India Gate is misleading.
The martyrs’ names mentioned on the monument are of soldiers who fought for British army during WWI.
Also, there are 13,220 names of martyrs mentioned on India Gate, and not 95,300.
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