Fact Check: Man In Viral Photo With Jinnah Is Khwaja Nazimuddin, Not Shyama Prasad Mookerjee
Vishvas News’ investigation reveals that the person sitting to the right of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the viral picture is not Dr Mookerjee, the founder of the Jan Sangh, but Khawaja Nazimuddin, the second Prime Minister of Pakistan.
- By: Pallavi Mishra
- Published: Dec 31, 2025 at 03:54 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News). A photograph of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the All-India Muslim League (AIML), is going viral on social media. In the image, Jinnah is seen seated alongside several others, with one individual’s face circled and falsely identified as Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
Vishvas News investigated and found the claim to be false. The person sitting to Jinnah’s right in the picture is not Dr Mookerjee, the founder of the Jan Sangh, but Khwaja Nazimuddin, the second Prime Minister of Pakistan.
What is in the viral post?
Facebook user Nehru Revives shared the picture and wrote, “Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Jinnah together!! This is proof of the double standards of the BJP and the RSS, a very rare picture. BJP founder Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and his Hindu Mahasabha formed coalition governments with Jinnah’s Muslim League in Bengal, Sindh and NWFP. He became the Finance Minister of Bengal during the time of AK Fazlul Huq, when Huq presented the proposal to create Pakistan in 1940.”
Investigation
To verify the viral post, Vishvas News conducted a reverse image search. This led us to the original photo uploaded on the news agency Alamy, with the caption: “This historical photograph shows the Muslim League Working Committee at the Lucknow session, an important political meeting in Indian history. The image captures the leaders discussing crucial matters related to the political and social future of India during the colonial period.”
The Wire and Moneycontrol also used this image in their reports, identifying it as the Muslim League Working Committee.
All these sources identify the group as the Muslim League Working Committee. Notably, Dr Mookerjee was never a member of the Muslim League.
Further keyword searches led us to a report by Frontline, which featured the same scene from a different angle. It identified the meeting as the AIML Working Committee in Lahore and named the man seated to Jinnah’s right as Sir Nizam-ud-Din (Home Minister, Government of Bengal).
Research confirmed that Sir Nizam-ud-Din’s full name was Khwaja Nazimuddin. After serving as the Home Minister in Bengal, he went on to become the second Prime Minister of Pakistan. A comparison between archival photos of Khwaja Nazimuddin and the man in the viral photo confirms they are the same person.
We also contacted Shivanand Dwivedi, Senior Research Fellow at Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, who confirmed that the person in the photo is definitely not Dr Mookerjee.
The difference between the picture of Khawaja Nazimuddin and Dr Mookerjee can be seen in the collage below.
Historical Context
While it is historically accurate that Dr Mookerjee served as a minister in AK Fazlul Huq’s government in Bengal (1941-42), he served as Finance Minister in the ‘Progressive Coalition Government.’ This coalition was actually formed against Jinnah’s Muslim League. According to Prashanto Kumar Chatterji’s book, ‘Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Indian Politics: 1938–1953’, Fazlul Huq had left the League at that time, and Mookerjee joined him specifically to ‘keep the Muslim League out of power’.
The Facebook user Nehru Revives, who shared the viral post, has 16000 followers.
Conclusion: Vishvas News’ investigation reveals that the person sitting to the right of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the viral picture is not Dr Mookerjee, the founder of the Jan Sangh, but Khawaja Nazimuddin, the second Prime Minister of Pakistan.
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