Fact Check: Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s Old Video Goes Viral With Misleading Claims
Vishvas News’ investigation found the viral claim to be misleading. The video dates back to 2021, when Harish Rawat visited Piran Kaliyar and offered a chadar at Sabir Pak Dargah, praying for the state’s prosperity. The same video is now being shared with a false claim, misrepresenting it as recent. The video has no connection to current events.
- By: Jyoti Kumari
- Published: Oct 21, 2024 at 02:18 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News). A video of Uttarakhand’s former Chief Minister Harish Rawat at a Dargah is going viral on social media. Some users are falsely claiming that he has converted to Islam and recently visited the dargah.
Vishvas News’ investigation found this claim to be misleading. The video dates back to 2021 when Harish Rawat visited Piran Kaliyar and offered a ‘Chadar’ at Sabir Pak Dargah, praying for the state’s prosperity. This old video is being shared with a false claim, and it has no connection with the current scenario.
What is in the viral post?
On October 17, 2024, Facebook user Kamlesh Rai shared the video with the caption, “All the countrymen are informed that the senior Congress leader, who is Hindu and has also served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand state, has accepted Islam today. You may not believe it, so I am showing you this personally. To gain power, political leaders change their religion like chameleons. Some people may keep flattering such leaders just for their benefit. Look, Harish Rawat ji has accepted Islam. Allah hu Akbar! Drown yourself, die in a handful of water; the buffalo has gone into the water.”
The archive link of the viral post can be seen here.
Investigation
To verify the authenticity of the viral video, we conducted a Google search using relevant keywords. We found a piece of related news on ETV Bharat’s website, published on November 28, 2021. According to the report, former Chief Minister Harish Rawat visited Piran Kaliyar, where he offered a chadar at Sabir Pak Dargah and prayed for the state’s prosperity. During his visit, he also prayed for victory in the 2022 assembly elections.
During our investigation, we found a report related to the viral video on the official Facebook page of News18 Uttarakhand. The report, shared on November 28, 2021, stated, “Former CM Harish Rawat offered a chadar at the shrine of Sabir Pak in Piran Kaliyar and prayed for peace. During this, he said that Congress would win the assembly elections by a huge margin.
We discovered that several Facebook users had shared images related to the viral video on November 28, 2021.
For further clarity, we reached out to Congress leader Rajpal Bisht, who denied the viral claim, confirming that the video is old.
Lastly, we reviewed the profile of the user who shared the video. The user has over 1000 Facebook followers and identifies as a resident of Jaunpur.
Conclusion: Vishvas News’ investigation found the viral claim to be misleading. The video dates back to 2021, when Harish Rawat visited Piran Kaliyar and offered a chadar at Sabir Pak Dargah, praying for the state’s prosperity. The same video is now being shared with a false claim, misrepresenting it as recent. The video has no connection to current events.
- Claim Review : Harish Rawat has recently visited the Dargah.
- Claimed By : Facebook user Kamlesh Rai
- Fact Check : False
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