Fact Check: Did Mamata Banerjee Actually Say 'Nazrul Islam Wrote Mahabharata'? Here's The Truth

Fact Check Of Mamata Banerjee's Viral Video: A fact check done by Zee News showed that the viral video was edited to create a false narrative. In her original speech, Mamata Banerjee had urged the audience to read the Mahabharata and later quoted lines from a poem written by Kazi Nazrul Islam.

New Delhi: A recent viral video on social media purportedly shows West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee making a controversial statement about the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata. However, a fact check by the Zee News team has revealed that the video in question is 'misleading and taken out of context.' 

In the widely circulated video, Banerjee can be heard saying, "Mahabharat... Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote," which led to a flurry of claims that she had mistakenly attributed the epic to the noted Bengali poet and freedom fighter. Additionally, Banerjee had previously been criticized for mixing up historical facts in her speeches, including mentioning former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's supposed visit to the moon and confusing Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma with Bollywood actor Rakesh Roshan. 

However, upon closer examination, it became clear that the viral video was edited to create a false narrative. In her original speech, Banerjee had urged the audience to read the Mahabharata and later quoted lines from a poem written by Kazi Nazrul Islam.

WATCH The Viral Video Here: 

After sending Rakesh Roushan and Indira Gandhi to the Moon, Now Mahabharat was written by Nazrul Islam pic.twitter.com/WADTL4Mn7M

— Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates) August 29, 2023

While several right-wing outlets referred to the clipped viral video to claim that the Trinamool Congress boss intentionally distorted facts related to Hinduism, her party live-streamed Mamata's original video on the YouTube channel of the party on the same day.

At the 2:51:42 time mark in the full video, Banerjee can be heard in Bengali, "So, I will tell you all to read and learn about Rabindranath, read and learn about Vivekananda, read and learn about Nazrul, read and learn about Birsa Munda, read and learn about Raghunath Murmu, read and learn about Matua Thakur, read and learn about Rajbangshi's Panchanan Burma.... (do it) well... Mahabharat...".

After a brief pause, Banerjee proceeded to quote a Bengali poem by Kazi Nazrul Islam, saying, "Nazrul Islam wrote, 'Quran, Puran, Ved, Vedanta, Bible, Tripitaka, Granth Saheb, Zend-Avesta ... read as much as you want'." She went on to recite other poems by Kazi Nazrul Islam and Rabindranath Tagore during her speech, which primarily targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the centre.

The poem Banerjee quoted, titled "Samyabadi," can be found on page 250 of an official document on the West Bengal government's Information Technology (IT) department website.

For the unversed, Kazi Nazrul Islam, born in West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district in 1899, was a Bengali rebel poet who dedicated his life to inspiring the masses to fight for India's independence. He penned numerous poems advocating for human rights and communal unity, and he is recognized as the national poet of Bangladesh for his significant contributions.