The State General Secretary of the BJP Tamil Nadu shared a photo of a huge group of devotees gathered on a wide road, stating that the gathering was for the occasion of Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha in Ayodhya.
Verified accounts on twitter, including Raama Sreenivasan (“@ProfessorBJP“) shared the picture of the huge crowd and tweeted “Photo taken at 6-00 PM on 22-01-2024”. The tweet was made on Jan 23, 2024, which has received an about 12.5k views on X. The archive can be read from above.
What is the Actual Truth About this Incident? : Fact
The truth is that this is an old picture from Lord Jagannath’s annual Rath Yatra, according to reports. It has nothing to do with Ayodhya and the Ram Mandir.
We visited The Shillong Times, which published an article on this incident with the headline “Annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra”. The Shillong Times posted another article on June 21, 2023 with the headline “Devotees gather in large numbers to attend the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath.” . These articles clarifies that the incident is actually old and not recent. The incident is actually from the Annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra.
Check out the full Video:
D-Intent’s Fact-Checking Results:
1555
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) January 23, 2024
ANALYSIS: Misleading
FACT: An image that shows a huge crowd of devotees on a wide road has been shared by the State General Secretary – of BJP Tamil Nadu, claiming that these devotees gathered in #Ayodhya on the occasion of#RamMandirPranPrathistha . (1/2) pic.twitter.com/uiaII9Nv0t
Intent:
Political influencers are circulating old images claiming to be from Ayodhya to get spotlight. An image that shows a huge crowd of devotees on a wide road has been shared by the State General Secretary – of BJP Tamil Nadu, claiming that these devotees gathered in Ayodhya on the occasion of Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha. The truth is that this appears to be an old picture from Lord Jagannath’s yearly Rath Yatra. It is not associated with Ayodhya or Ram Mandir.
Conclusion:
Claim : A viral image posted to social media depicts that the State General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu claims that a large number of devotees have gathered in Ayodhya on the occasion of Ram Mandir Prathistha.
Fact : The fact is that according to reports, this is an old image from the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath. It has nothing to do with Ram Mandir & Ayodhya.
