Fact Check: Photo Of Crowd At Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra Going Viral With Misleading Claim

New Delhi Vishvas News – A huge crowd of devotees gathered in Ayodhya to catch a glimpse of Ram Lalla, the idol of infant Lord Ram consecrated inside the Ram Temple. Devotees are arriving from every corner of the country to seek the blessings of Lord Ram. Meanwhile, a picture depicting a sizable crowd has gone viral on social media. Some users are now sharing this image, claiming that it captures Ram devotees in Ayodhya.

However, Vishvas News conducted an investigation and determined this claim to be false. Our findings reveal that the viral picture does not depict the Ayodhya Ram temple; instead, it is from the Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra. The image is currently being circulated with misleading claims and holds no association with the Ayodhya Ram temple.

What’s Going Viral?

While sharing the viral picture, Facebook user ‘Ramesh Chauhan Jaunsari’ wrote, “Amazing crowd of Ram devotees in Ayodhya.” “Jai Shri Ram”. Many other users have shared this picture with similar claims.

Investigation:

We used Google Lens to verify the authenticity of the viral picture. During our investigation, we found the image on the Marathi website of ABP Live, published on June 21, 2023. According to the news, the viral picture captures the Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra, with various other related images available. Further research led us to the NDTV web story, where the same viral picture is identified as the 2023 Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra.

Additional information about the viral picture was located on the Times Content website, where the photo, captioned “Annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri: Crowd of devotees during the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath,” was published on June 20, 2023. Numerous other images of the Rath Yatra can be found on the site.

On June 20, 2023, Sambit Patra, a BJP spokesperson, also shared pictures of the Rath Yatra, describing it as the Jagannath Rath Yatra. Numerous other websites also feature information regarding the viral picture.

To further verify, we consulted Rashmi Ranjan Parida, editor of Odisha’s local news portal, Odisha Diary. According to Parida, “This picture is of Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra.”

Finally, we scrutinised the account of the user who shared the viral picture with the misleading claim. It was determined that the user resides in Vikasnagar, Uttarakhand.

Conclusion: Vishvas News in its investigation found that the viral picture of the crowd is not of Ayodhya Ram Temple, but of Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra. The picture is being shared with the misleading claim that it is of a crowd gathered at Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Tags

• Ayodhya
• Ayodhya Ram Temple