A video is doing rounds on social media, purportedly of the owner of the Himalayan Drug Company, Mohammad Manal with the message, “Owner of Himalaya Drug Co- He says he is not loyal to India, but he is the Malik of India (sic)”.
The video, which is in Hindi shows a man saying, “We are Muslims first, Indians next. If any conflict arises, we will abide by Islam and not the constitution. We are masters of the country, not loyal. Loyalty is for dogs; we are masters of the country.”
The video was shared on Facebook by one N S Shekhawat on April 8th with the following caption, “Owner of Himalaya Drug Co…Mohd Manal-He says he is not loyal to India, but he is ‘Malik’ of India…!!”
The same video was also shared on Twitter with the same caption.
Himalaya ki dawa khane walon ! Suno!
Owner of Himalaya Drug Co..Mohd Manal-He says he is not loyal to India, but he is ‘Malik’ of India👇🏽@PoojaThakur0 @DrAVSriv @thesharad @thebrajeshs @Rudra_Aksh27 @chitranayal09 @DetheEshaSen @dhirenpurohit @Vyas241S @garganilkpl @S3Chaturvedi pic.twitter.com/82sHJVfIqi— 🇮🇳 🚩मुमुक्षु #एकांते_सुखमास्याम् 😍 (@Pratyangira1) April 7, 2020
Fact Vs. Fake
Although the video is being shared with a claim that the man speaking in it is the owner of the Himalaya Drug Company, the video itself has the name of the person speaking.
The video is of Maviya Ali, who is a former Congress MLA, of the Deoband Constituency, Uttar Pradesh. In 2017, when the video was shot, he was with the Samajwadi Party.
The Cognate’s Fact Vs. Fake did a basic Google search for Maviya Ali, and the results throwed up articles of the statements he had made in 2017, which had sparked controversy.
In 2017, the Uttar Pradesh governement had directed all madrasas in the state to hold celebrations on Independence Day and videograph the event, raising questions over the intent of such directive.
It was during this time, that Ali made the statement that, “we are Muslims first and Indians next”.
Also, the current chairman of the Himalaya Drug Company is not Mohammad Manal as stated in these fake messages. Mohammad Manal was the founder of the company, who passed away in 1986. The current chairman of the company is Meraj Manal, who is the son of Mohammad Manal.
Himalaya Drug Company Target of Fake News
This is not the first time, the Bangalore-based Himalaya Drug Company has been the target of fake news.
In March, malicicous news was spread against the pharmaceautical company, that its owner donates 10% of his income to “jihadists”. The messages carried the photo of a man purported to be the owner of the company, which was later fact-checked by AltNews, to be the CEO of the company, Philipe Haydon.
The company also released a statement on Twitter calling out the misinformaion.
— Himalaya India (@HimalayaIndia) March 13, 2020
That false and malicuous rumoru is still being circulated on social media to tarnish the repuation of the 90-year-old brand, which has presence in many parts of the world.
