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| - Fact Check: This viral video from Priyanka Gandhi's Varanasi rally doesn't tell you the whole story
A collage of two videos related to Priyanka Gandhi's Varanasi rally is viral on social media with the claim that only Islamic prayer was recited during the event. India Today's AFWA has found that the viral video being shared is clipped.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is clipped. Prayers from multiple faiths were recited during Priyanka Gandhi’s Varanasi rally, not just Islam.
Ever since the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has grabbed the limelight in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Her detention in Sitapur, the subsequent meeting with the families of the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri, and then her October 10 rally in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bastion Varanasi created a buzz in the media.
Now, a collage of two videos related to Priyanka Gandhi’s Varanasi rally is viral on social media with the claim that only Islamic prayer was recited during the event. In the first video, verses from the Quran can be heard being recited on the stage during the rally. In the second video, a group of men can be heard saying the Quranic verses were recited for almost 10 minutes during the rally, and it cannot be acceptable in the city of temples, Varanasi.
Sharing the videos on Twitter, BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged the prayer was recited to appease the Muslim community.
The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here and here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the viral video being shared is clipped. A portion of the video is taken out to portray it as if Priyanka Gandhi is indulging in Muslim appeasement. Prayers from multiple faiths were recited during the October 10 Varanasi rally, not just Islam.
AFWA probe
Responding to Sambit Patra’s tweet, social media head of Indian National Congress (INC) Rohan Gupta tweeted another video from the same rally where Hindu prayer can be heard being recited on the stage.
How low will you stoop ? pic.twitter.com/9IRg9DCGBW— Rohan Gupta (@rohanrgupta) October 14, 2021
According to Sambit Patra’s tweet, the video in question is from October 10, when Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi addressed a large gathering at the ‘Kisan Nyay’ (justice for farmers) rally in Varanasi.
With the help of a keyword search, we found the complete video of Priyanka Gandhi’s Varanasi rally on the YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress (INC).
At the beginning of this one-hour 29 minutes video, we can hear a man inviting priests from different faiths onto the stage. Congress believes in treating all regions equally, and as per our tradition I invite priests from Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Christian faiths to recite the prayers, the man can be heard saying.
The viral video where verses from the Quran can be heard is clipped from around the sixth minute of this video. Following this, the Sikh prayer can also be heard being recited on the stage.
Moreover, during the rally, Priyanka Gandhi started her speech with a prayer to Goddess Durga.
“Today is the fourth day of Navratri and I am on fast. I’ll start my speech with the ‘stuti’ (prayer) of Maa,” Priyanka Gandhi can be heard saying in the video uploaded by INC. She further recited two slogans in Sanskrit and urged the crowd to chant “Jai Mata Di”.
The Congress leader ended her speech with the salutation ‘Jai Mata Di’ and also greeted the people on the festival of Navratri.
Priyanka Gandhi's speech was also uploaded on her official YouTube channel on October 10.
Multiple media houses had also reported about Priyanka Gandhi chanting the Durga stuti during the Varanasi rally.
It is hence clear that Sambit Patra and many others shared a tweaked video. Prayers from multiple faiths were recited during Priyanka Gandhi's October 10 rally in Varanasi.
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