Fact-check: Did Ashok Gehlot say ‘M’ in ‘Ram’ is for ‘Muhammad’?

An 11-second video clip of a speech by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has been gathering a lot of traction on social media recently. Gehlot says in the video, “In the word ‘Ram’, ‘R’ stands for ‘Ram’ and ‘M’ represents ‘Muhammad’.” It has been claimed that the CM made the alleged statement to appease Muslim voters.

Twitter user ‘Akhand Bharat Sankalp’ tweeted this video with the hashtag ‘#Congress_Mukt_Bharat’. (Archive link)

@ashokgehlot51 कह रहे हैं #राम में जो “म” है, उसका मतलब मोहम्मद है। मुस्लिम वोट बैंक का लालची, हिन्दुओं की तपस्या और सहनशीलता का मजाक उड़ा रहा है।
कांग्रेस की हिन्दू विरोधी मानसिकता का अंत होना निश्चित है। मलेच्छों अब निश्चित ही #कांग्रेस_मुक्त_भारत होगा।
जाग उठा है हिन्दू।✊🚩 pic.twitter.com/PJXpRvvQCE

— अखण्ड भारत संकल्प (@Akhand_Bharat_S) June 2, 2022

BJP Rajasthan social media head Abhishek Acharya Kulshreshtha also tweeted this video with the same claim and termed Gehlot as a “lowly chief minister”. (Archive link)

इनसे घटिया मुख्यमंत्री नही देखा मुस्लिम वोट बैंक के खातिर इन्होंने 500 वर्षो की हिन्दुओ की तपस्या का मजाक बनाया है।गहलोत जी कह रहे है #राम में जो ‘म’ है उसका मतलब मोहम्मद है.
गहलोत जी दिन दूर नही जब राजस्थान का हर एक हिन्दू आपको और आपकी कांग्रेस को हमेशा के लिए गद्दी से उतार देगा pic.twitter.com/W2dmsRIFhq

— Abhishek Acharya Kulshrestha🇮🇳🚩 (@iAbhiAcharya) June 1, 2022

Several other users amplified the visuals with the same claim. It is also widespread on Facebook.

Fact-check

Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube which led us to the full video of the event posted on May 28 by Ashok Gehlot’s YouTube channel. The video description mentions that a temple of Brahmin Acharya Sri Harinarayan ji Maharaj was inaugurated in Ren village of Nagaur district. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was also present at the occasion.

Scenes from the viral video appear at the 41:24 mark. Gehlot explains, “Dariyaji Maharaj had said that in the word ‘Ram’, ‘R’ stands for ‘Ram’ and ‘M’ represents Muhammad. The symbol of such Hindu-Muslim unity was Dariyav ji Maharaj.” It is evident that the CM was quoting Dariyav ji Maharaj and not making the statement himself.

Upon further investigation, we came across a 2017 blog post. The article quotes Dariyav ji Maharaj as stating that ‘R’ represents God himself, ‘M’ is for Prophet Muhammad. “The manifestations of both letters are in the ancient scriptures,” he added.

Alt News also reached Divya Dewal Peeth for more information. Chairperson Acharya Sajjan Ram informed us that the statement made by Ashok Gehlot on May 28 about the word ‘Ram’ was in fact him quoting Dariyav ji Maharaj’s words. Dariyavji Maharaj himself said the original statement (‘R’ represents God himself, ‘M’ is for Prophet Muhammad’). Acharya Sajjan Ram also shared photos taken from the pages of a text known as the ‘Sri Dariyav Divya Vani’. It contains several couplets in the book which promote Hindu-Muslim unity, including the couplet heard in the viral video.

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To sum it up, Ashok Gehlot was quoting sage Dariyavji Maharaj when he said that the ‘M’ in ‘Ram’ represents Prophet Muhammad. A clip of this speech was shared with misleading claims. The remark comes from a couplet by Dariyavji Maharaj on Hindu-Muslim unity. However, Gehlot did not repeat Dariyavji Maharaj’s original couplet correctly. He mistakenly said ‘R’ represents ‘Ram’ while the original quote says that it stands for ‘God’.