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| - Fact Check: Rahul Gandhi paused aarti at Brahma Sarovar, but it was not for a photoshoot
A short video of Rahul Gandhi performing aarti at Brahma Sarovar, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, was taken out of context and shared with misleading claims.
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India Today Fact Check
This video was clipped to remove context. Rahul Gandhi was repeating the actions of the temple men who performed the aarti. After every three rounds, they paused for some time and Rahul Gandhi did the same.
Critics and detractors of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi often question his “Hinduness”. On multiple instances, especially recently during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, photos and videos from Gandhi's temple visits have been used to claim his religiosity is mere performance.
A recent example of this is a video of Rahul Gandhi performing aarti. Those sharing the video, which had ANI’s logo on it, accused the Gandhi scion of pausing aarti to pose for a photo. In the video, Rahul Gandhi can be seen doing just that: pausing for a bit and then resuming once a photographer arrives.
AFWA’s investigation, however, found that the video in question has taken out of context. The pause, as seen in the video, is part of the ritual.
AFWA probe
Using relevant keywords, we found a longer version of the same video tweeted by ANI on January 8, 2023. Per this tweet, the video was from Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Brahma Sarovar in Haryana’s Kurukshetra during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
In this longer version, one can see a few men standing in front of Rahul Gandhi and performing aarti along with him. The men could be seen pausing after oscillating the aarti lamp thrice and the Congress MP did the same. The official YouTube channel of the Indian National Congress also shared a longer video of Rahul Gandhi performing the aarti at Kurukshetra on January 8.
To get to the bottom of this, AFWA spoke to Pandit Balram Gautam, the director of Parashakti Ved Pathshala, who conducted the special puja for Rahul Gandhi in Kurukshetra.
The priest said, “Rahul Gandhi was repeating after the other Brahmins who were performing the aarti. He didn’t stop for a photoshoot. After every three rounds, the Brahmins stopped the aarti on each side and Rahul Gandhi was doing the same. Aarati of this similar form is performed everywhere. We had also performed a special puja for Rahul Gandhi on the day.”
We were also able to find several other videos from Brahma Sarovar where aarti was performed in a similar fashion.
Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Brahma Sarovar on the 114th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra was widely reported by media organisations.
It is hence clear that a short video of Rahul Gandhi performing aarti at Brahma Sarovar was taken out of context and shared with misleading claims.
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