No, there aren't any Muslims in this video 'mocking' Hindu culture - Alt News
Kinjal
27th August 2021 / 3:41 pm
A video of a group of people dancing to the beats of a drum around a bonfire has been shared on social media. It has been claimed that people from the Muslim community are mocking Hindus by imitating their culture.
A Facebook user named Deepak Sajwan shared the video calling the dance a ‘huge conspiracy’.(Archive link)
☝🏻☝🏻 ये गांव वाले इतने महामूर्ख हैं, ये हमारे कुलदेवी देवताओं का मजाक नही तो क्या है, ये एक बहुत बड़ा षड्यंत्र है, ये मुस्लिम समाज के जो कहते हैं नाचना ,गाना, और मूर्ति पूजा हराम है वो हमारे यहां पर धूनी लगाकर नाच रहे हैं जैसे हमारे देवता इन पर ही प्रकट हुए हो, जो गौमांस भक्षण करते हैं उन पर देवी-देवता कैसे प्रकट हो सकते हैं,हे मूर्ख पहाड़ियों कब समझोगे इनकी चाल को जब ये सबकुछ तुम्हारा लूट ले जाएंगे, कश्मीरी पंडितों की तरह तुम्हारा हाल करेंगे, पता लगाओ ये कहां की विडियो है, प्रत्येक व्यक्ति की जिम्मेदारी है ये पता लगाना और उस गांव के प्रधान का फोन नम्बर भी मालूम करना, प्रत्येक व्यक्ति अपने अपने स्रोतों से पता लगाएं, ये धीरे धीरे इतना फैल जाएंगे जिसकी हम कल्पना भी नही कर सकते हैं, और उत्तराखंड दूसरा कश्मीर बन जाएगा,।#जागो_पहाड़ियोंजागो
Posted by Deepak Sajwan on Wednesday, August 4, 2021
The tweet below has over 1,200 views. (Archive link)
ये हमारी संस्कृति का मजाक उड़ाया जा रहा है😡😡
आज तक कभी ऐसा हुआ नहीं है और कभी सोचा नहीं था कि ऐसा भी होगा और कैसे ये गांव के लोग है जो ऐसे देबी देबता का अपमान करवा रहे हैं धिक्कार है इस गांव पर😡😡
कोई बताएगा कौनसा गांव है ये?? pic.twitter.com/XM1qE06YXE
— पहाड़ों से हैं 🙏 (@pahado_say_hain) August 5, 2021
The video is widespread on Facebook.
The words ‘Pahari Blogger’ appear on the lower right corner of the visuals. This hinted that a YouTube channel of the same name may have posted the video.
‘Pahari Blogger’ is indeed a YouTube channel that had uploaded the video on August 5, 2021. The channel is run by Himanshu Kaluda. He clarified that the people seen in the video are not Muslims. Kaluda also said that he had uploaded the video to his ‘Pahari Blogger’ channel a few months ago, but was forced to take it down due to the spate of communal comments it generated. He then posted another video on August 5 discussing the actual origins of the footage.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0Q_IeGjSXM]
“First of all, this video was shot in Bharpur village. In 2017 or 2018, there were Thola, Mandar, or Jagari speaking somewhere so I made this video. This is a four-year-old video that was published on my channel four or five months ago…Is this village full of Muslims? I would like to inform you that this is an all Hindu village. No Muslims live here, no one is adopting Islamic culture here, and no one is adopting the Islamic religion…there are no Islam converts in this clip. All of these people are Hindus,” he stated.
“The four or five people who are seen dancing claim that Muslim deities like Sahdavta, Pathan Devta, and Pir Baba enter their bodies. Sahdevta is highly revered in our village. For example, if someone is a big devotee of Nanda Devi, they say that they have come from Nanda Devi. Since Sahdevta’s tomb is in Meerut, his devotees say that they have come from Meerut. That’s what they mean to say. No Muslims have come here from Meerut. No Muslims have come here from Roorkee. Neither do any Muslims live here and nor is our village adopting Islam. And we don’t promote Islamic culture,” he further added.
Kaluda told Alt News. “The claim that these people were mocking Hindu culture is false. Everyone in this village is a Hindu. And as far as I know, there are no Muslims even in the surrounding villages. The people seen here are worshipping a Muslim deity. Because of this, they have worn the skullcap which is associated with the Muslim community. The video was shared with the wrong context on social media,” he explained.
Tehri-Garhwal police posted a video of Kaluda dated August 5, 2021 on its official Facebook page to debunk the viral claims.
Tehri-Garhwal SP Tripti Bhatt informed Alt News, “The claim accompanying this clip on social media is completely false. All the people seen in the video are Hindus. There are also some people who are from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. This is a four-year-old video, recorded by a person named Himanshu Kaluda. They are devotees of Syed Pir Baba. No Muslims live in this village,” she clarified.
We also spoke with Omprakash Singh, a resident of Bharpur village who said that the religious celebration seen in the video is held every three years. “No person belonging to the Muslim community has come to our village. The people here believe in Pir Baba. This gathering was held in his honour and to worship him,” he said.
The video was therefore, presented with the false context that members of the Muslim community were mocking Hindu culture. The people dancing in the video are Hindus.
Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.
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