Karnataka: Minister forcing cops to eat his leftover food

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Oct 13, 2018 : Did a Muslim minister force Hindu policemen to eat his leftover food during an event? Photographs showing Karnataka’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan feeding Hindu policemen from his own plate have been doing the rounds on social media for the past few days.

 

A post by Twitter user @ExSecular claims that "Karnataka Congress Muslim minister Zameer Ahmed forced Hindu policemen to eat his leftover food during an event". The Twitter handle shared an article from a Kannada website to back her claim. The post has been shared by hundreds so far.

India Today Fact Check team found that the picture is not fake but the narrative around it is misleading.

Interestingly, Twitter handle @ExSecular has high-profile followers such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several ministers like Giriraj Singh, Piyush Goyal, Ram Kripal Yadav and Vijay Goel. This Twitter handle, with a woman’s photo as its profile picture, has more than 54,000 followers. The bio reads, "Mandir Wahin Banayenge" and describes her location vaguely as "Pale Blue Dot".

In the four photos being shared, Khan can be seen feeding men in uniform with his own hand from the banana leaves spread in front of him. We contacted minister Khan and enquired about the pictures. He confirmed that the photos were genuine and clicked on October 10 in Mysuru, where he had gone to inaugurate a food festival on the occasion of Dasara in his official capacity.

The 51-year-old Congress leader told India Today, "I inaugurated various food stalls on the occasion of Mysuru Dasara at Scout and Guides ground in Mysuru. This photo is from the same programme."

When asked the reason behind feeding the policemen from his hand, Khan said he has been doing this for more than 20 years in public functions even before he entered politics.

The minister said, "I think this gesture promotes brotherhood as I also eat food from other’s hand in the same manner. In this function too, I was having meal with blind children and I shared it with almost everyone present there, including these policemen."

Khan claimed that it is not right to conclude that he forced policemen to eat from his plate. To verify Khan’s claim about his
"food-sharing ritual", we checked his Facebook page where we found videos of the same event in which he can be seen eating and offering a sweet obbattu to many people. On the timeline of his Facebook page, there are many old pictures where Khan can be seen sharing food like this.

We also found some media reports about this programme where he was praised for his goodwill gesture.

While sharing food in this manner may not be liked by many, it is a false allegation laced with communal overtones to show that Khan forced Hindu policemen to eat his leftover food.