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| - Fact check: 2016 Ganesha Visarjan video peddled as T Raja fans celebrating his victory
India Today found that the viral video is from 2016 and shows Ganesh Visarjan celebrations in Hyderabad.
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India Today Fact Check
This 2016 video shows a Hyderabad resident waving a saffron flag on the occasion of Ganesh Visarjan.
A video allegedly showing supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA T Raja Singh celebrating his election victory in Telangana’s Goshamahal dancing and waving a huge saffron flag in the middle of a road has been widely shared on social media. An X user shared the video and wrote, “Mood in #Goshamahal .. after @TigerRajaSingh wins for the 3rd consecutive time.” The archived version of this post can be seen here.
It is noteworthy that T Raja Singh recently won from the Goshamahal seat for the third consecutive time since he was elected as MLA in 2014.
India Today found that the viral video is from 2016 and shows Ganesh Visarjan celebrations in Hyderabad. Ritesh Modi, the person in the video, confirmed this to India Today.
Our Probe
Upon reverse searching the keyframes of the viral video, we found that it was uploaded on the YouTube channel “Privateeye CCTV’ on September 26, 2016. The description alongside this video noted the name of one Ritesh Modi and the festival “Ganesh Nimajjanam”.
Ganesh Nimajjanam is the other name for Ganesh Visarjan, the ritual of devotees immersing an idol of Lord Ganesha in water. It also noted that the flag in the video was created using 10 metres of cloth and 20 feet of wood.
Subsequent searches led us to the Instagram account of Ritesh Modi. There, we found similar videos of Ritesh waving saffron flag. We also found such videos on his YouTube account.
Next, we contacted Ritesh to get more information about the viral video. He told India Today, “It was filmed near our colony in 2016 when Ganesh Nimajjanam was being celebrated. It has nothing to do with T Raja Singh’s recent election victory.”
Geolocating the video
The video on Ritesh’s YouTube channel is much clearer as compared to the viral video. Here, we observed a board for “Vamshi Diabetic Clinic”. Another prominent marker was the building “Veerashaiva Vidhyavardak Hostel”. We were able to locate both places on Google Maps.
This location can also be seen on Google Street View.
It’s noteworthy that similar videos of people celebrating T Raja Singh’s victory have surfaced. However, as evidenced, the viral video has nothing to do with it.
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