Old photos of langars shared amid Sikhs and ISKCON volunteers aiding people in Ukraine - Alt News
Kalim Ahmed
28th February 2022 / 6:26 pm / Last updated: 28th February 2022
After two months of escalation on the borders with Ukraine, Russia announced a special military operation in the country on February 24. Amidst the death and displacement caused by the invasion, pictures of langars set up to help the distressed have been shared online.
God bless you, my Sikh friends, for opening a Langar in Ukraine! 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/njAtHOsbmt
— Jawhar Sircar (@jawharsircar) February 27, 2022
Langar in Ukraine
❤️❤️Love sikhism❤️❤️#sikhism #HelpUkraine #UkraineRussiaWar #PutinHitler pic.twitter.com/ZcSSvgz3uD
— Devender Pal (@devpal18) February 27, 2022
Some users claimed that the ISKON temple has opened its door for the distressed. The accompanying picture shows devotees feeding people.
जय श्री कृष्णा! 🌺🙏❤️
Great to see that ISKON has opened Mandir’s doors for the distressed/stranded people in Ukraine and helping them in these difficult times.https://t.co/gwi2y2rOWn pic.twitter.com/5YIDgaGwFm
— Sumita Shrivastava🇮🇳ॐ🚩 (@Sumita327) February 27, 2022
The picture is also viral on Facebook.
Alt News found that both images are old and unrelated to the Sikh community and ISKCON volunteers helping people amid Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine. We will debunk the images one by one.
First image
For the first image of the langar, we performed a keyword search on Twitter based on what was written on the food truck – ‘Guru Nanak’s Langar’. This led us to a tweet from 2016 that carried the same photo.
Guru Nanak’s langar– good bye hunger!
via https://t.co/BLJ0jXwrD6 pic.twitter.com/ZpPkYVSStq
— Anant Bhan (@AnantBhan) November 21, 2016
We also came across a tweet from 2016 that suggested that the image could be from Canada.
Superb initiative by the Sikhs of Canada! A food van “Guru Nanak’s Langar Good Bye Hunger” which provides free food. pic.twitter.com/yzR3GA5eJC
— In the Service of Guru Gobind Singh Ji (@dashmeshpita) September 7, 2016
The above photo shows a poster of the langar service with a link to the Facebook page of ‘SEWA Society’. We looked up Sikh SEWA society on Facebook and found that they have released a statement clarifying that the photo in circulation is from 2016 and they do not provide any services outside of Canada.
It has recently been brought to the boards attention that a picture of Sikh Sewa Society’s mobile kitchen has been…
Posted by Sewa Meals for Humanity – Sikh Sewa Society on Sunday, 27 February 2022
While this image is old, it is noteworthy that the Sikh community has reportedly organised “langar on train” for students travelling to the Polish border from Ukraine.
Second image
As for the image of ISCKON devotees, we performed a Google reverse image search on the photo and came across a blog post from 2019 that carried the same image. By opening the image in a new tab, we noticed that the URL carries the original upload year of the photo – 2015.
We then checked for the EXIF data of the image and as per the EXIF data, it was clicked on March 29, 2015 by Jivana Wilhoit.
We also came across a tweet thread by Radharamn Das, Vice President and Spokesperson of ISKCON, where he announced that the doors of ISKCON temples in Ukraine are open for those in distress. The thread contained images, including the one viral, of ISCKON volunteers serving food.
ISKCON has over 54 temples in Ukraine & our devotees & temples r committed to serve those in distress. Our doors r open for service. Hare Krishna!
To find nearest temples near you, please visit.https://t.co/iFnZQaPoqG pic.twitter.com/zlUGF84X9f
— Radharamn Das राधारमण दास (@RadharamnDas) February 26, 2022
Das made another tweet saying that ISKCON volunteers had served meals to those in need during the Chechnya war as well.
During Chechnya war too (1995), ISKCON devotees served people without fearing for their own life. One of our devotees died due to bullet injuries while serving. Devotees had helped 850,000 of Russians, Chechens, Georgians, Armenians & victims of war giving them free food. pic.twitter.com/6vOZSzuVlE
— Radharamn Das राधारमण दास (@RadharamnDas) February 26, 2022
The other photo in his tweet can be found on ISKCON’s website and was uploaded in 2015.
It is possible that Das’s tweet announcing that ISCKON temples are open for distressed people in Ukraine was misunderstood and the photo he shared was believed to be recent.
However, both the Sikh community and ISKCON have reportedly stepped up to serve people in Ukraine.
Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc
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