A 28-seconds long video clip is viral on social media where at a rally, saffron-clad men can be seen chanting pro-Hindutva slogan. It is claimed that the alleged video is from Ayodhya where the demand for “Hindu Rashtra” has begun.
The video is massively viral on Twitter.
अयोध्या में शुरू हुई हिंदू राष्ट की मांग 🙏
जय श्री राम 🙏 pic.twitter.com/iKqU0IePP4— S.RAJ Tiwari 🚩🕉️📿 (@_Setuku_) March 16, 2022
अयोध्या में शुरू हुई हिंदू राष्ट की मांग 🙏
जय जय श्रीराम 🚩#अयोध्या pic.twitter.com/yicbSKZEuq
— Uttam Chaurasiya – ( भारतीय )🇮🇳🙏 (@INDUttam) March 16, 2022
अयोध्या में शुरू हुई हिंदू राष्ट की मांग 🚩 pic.twitter.com/ZIjcj9brZf
— गौरव महाजन (@GAURAVBJP4INDIA) March 15, 2022
On Facebook, the video has received over 13k likes and has been shared on the platform by multiple users.
Video from 2018
We had a close look at the video and noticed that a man can be heard speaking over a loudspeaker. He describes that the rally for ‘Hindu Rashtra’ is being carried out under the supervision of “Dr. Praveen Bhai Togadia”.
Taking this as a clue we performed a keyword search on Google and came across various blogs and news reports which suggested that Praveen Togadia had carried out a massive rally in Ayodhya in October 2018.
On Facebook, we performed another keyword search and came across multiple videos from October 2018, where Praveen Togadia can be seen addressing rallies. We continued rummaging through Facebook and came across the oldest instance of the video, posted on October 25, 2018.
सौगंध राम की खाते हैं मंदिर भव्य बनाएंगे लाखों समर्थन श्रीमान प्रवीण तोगड़िया जी के साथ अयोध्या
Posted by Monty Singh Rajput on Wednesday, 24 October 2018
We also came across another video of the same event that was shot when there was no commentary being done over the loudspeaker. This video was posted on Facebook on October 26, 2018.
प्रवीण तोगड़िया जी के नेतृत्व में अयोध्या जी में राम मंदिर निर्माण को ले के राम भक्तों का जनसैलाब।
मंदिर वहीं बनाएंगे चाहे जो हो।
याद रखना मंदिर नहीं तो वोट नहीं
जय श्री रामPosted by गौरी शंकर on Thursday, 25 October 2018
Below we have juxtaposed stills from the two Facebook videos to show that they are from the same event.
Hence, a video from 2018 when Praveen Togadia had carried out a rally in Ayodhya was shared without proper context to suggest that it is a video from a recently carried out event.
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.