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| - Fact Check: Video of Rishi Sunak seeking Hindu monk's blessings is from August, not after PM appointment
Rishi Sunak, the first person of Indian origin to become the British Prime Minister, has been largely cheered by Indians, both at home and abroad.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is from Rishi Sunak's visit to an ISKCON temple in August 2022. He made the visit ahead of Janmashtami in 2022.
Rishi Sunak, the first person of Indian origin to become the British Prime Minister, has been largely cheered by Indians, both at home and abroad. Sunak, back in 2019, took oath as a member of the parliament holding the Bhagwad Gita. He also proudly displayed his religious roots when he sported the sacred Hindu 'Kalawa' thread during his first address after taking charge as the PM.
Time and again, he has embraced his Hindu heritage — something that has earned him both praise and criticism. Now, many on social media are claiming that Sunak took the blessing of a Hindu monk before swearing in as the Prime Minister.
Those making the claim shared a video where Sunak can be seen kneeling in front of a saffron-clad man. In the clip, Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty could also be seen interacting with various people, some also dressed in saffron. The archived version of one such post can be seen here .
AFWA found that the video is from Sunak’s visit to an ISKCON temple in August 2022.
AFWA Probe
A keyword search on the recent temple visits made by Sunak led us to a tweet made by him on August 18. This tweet carried a photo of Sunak and his wife wearing saffron shawls. As per this tweet, the image was from Sunak’s visit to the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple ahead of Janmashtami. Bhaktivedanta Manor is an ISKON temple in the UK's Watford. He also shared the same photo, and others, on his Instagram account.
A set of images from Sunak’s visit to Bhaktivedanta Manor was also shared by the temple on its Facebook page on August 18. In these photos, one can see the same people and backgrounds as seen in the viral video. In August, Sunak was running for the Prime Minister's post in the United Kingdom.
The same set of photos was also shared by the Instagram page of Bhaktivedanta Manor. The page also shared several other photos of the monk seen in the viral video. As per the page, he is Keshava Swami
We further searched the Instagram profile of the monk and found the viral video uploaded by him on September 18, 2022. The caption to the video reads, “Was a pleasure to meet [Rishi Sunak] & Akshata Murthy a few weeks ago. ‘Rishi’ means a sage, a great thinker, derived from ‘drsya’ which means ‘spiritual vision.’ We talked about the need for wisdom that breathes in a world that’s suffocating from materialism.”
It is hence clear that the video in question is months old, and definitely not from after his appointment as the British Prime Minister.
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