BJP leader Hariom Pandey recently shared an image claiming it was taken at a literature festival in Maharashtra. He claimed that literary festivals are now being commenced with a reading of Quranic verses, as compared to earlier when the Saraswati Vandana used to be recited. The image features NCP MP Supriya Sule and Maharashtra cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad.
West Bengal’s Shankaracharya Gurukul president Arpita Chatterjee shared the image with the same claim. Her tweet was liked by over 4,500 users as of this writing. (Archive link)
यह महाराष्ट्र सरकार ने नई प्रथा शुरू की है पहले साहित्य सम्मेलन की शुरुआत सरस्वती वंदना से होती थी अब साहित्य सम्मेलन की शुरुआत कुरान की आयतें पढ़कर होती हैं pic.twitter.com/K6agyDddq7
— Arpita Chatterjee (@arpitahindu) December 6, 2021
Several others also posted the image with the accompanying claim. Among them was Mahesh Chauhan of the RSS, and users like @humlogindia, @janardanspeaks, and @archiepie11.
Fact-check
We performed a reverse image search, keeping in mind that Supriya Sule and Jitendra Awhad could be seen as attendees in the viral photo. This led us to a video story posted on a verified YouTube channel named Aapka Prahar Times. At the 3:20 mark, it is mentioned that Supriya Sule attended fellow NCP leader and Kalwa Mumbra Assembly Speaker Shamim Khan’s son’s Nikah ceremony. According to the report, Sule had shared a Facebook Live taken at the event. This is where the viral image was taken from.
On December 4, Supriya Sule also posted a Facebook Live recorded during the Nikah ceremony.
Posted by Supriya Sule on Saturday, December 4, 2021
In sum, photos taken during the Nikah ceremony of an NCP leader’s son were falsely circulated by BJP leaders and other users to claim Quranic verses were being read in Marathi Sahitya Sammelan.
