A video is going viral on social media in which seemingly some school students are doing a play comprising characters from different religions on the occasion of 76th Independence Day. The video clip is being shared with the claim that students removed the crown from the child playing the character of Bharat Mata and replaced it with the Hijab (a piece of cloth that Muslim women put on).
News organization Sudarshan News shared the clipped video and claims that the crown of Bharat Mata has been replaced by a Hijab.
Sudarshan News tweeted the clip of the video saying in Hindi, “The crown of Bharat Mata has been replaced by the Hijab.”
Watch the Viral claim here
Source: Sudarshan News/Twitter
The video elicited hateful responses against the school and the creator of the play. “The difference is clear that Hindus were shown worshiping Bharat Mata which is true in its sense. But why the Bharat Mata has been shown bowing down to Azaan? Why did they not call Azaan in front of Bharat Mata standing?”, said one user.
Source: Twitter
The viral post is also being shared on Instagram.
source: rise_of_saffronismandprashasaksamitiofficial/ Instagram
FactO Check:
We analyzed the video thoroughly and it seemed to be only representing the intended part and not the full video, as we found its starting and ending abrupt.
We further searched using relevant keywords —Religion, prayers, students, Independence Day.— on Twitter and we found the full version of the claimed video.
Source: Arvind Chauhan/Twitter
In the full version of the video, we found that some school students are doing a play in which Bharat Mata is donning different religious attire to show religious inclusivity and equality before her. It is true that in the video some child actors removed the crown from Bharat Mata and put Hijab on her but it was merely a portion of the video being circulated out of context with misleading claims.
The full version of the video can be seen here (part 1) and here (part 2).
Screengrab of the full version of the viral video
We also find a video of the creator of the play, Pragati Nigam who denied the claims and said that I choreographed the play to show religious inclusivity in the eyes of Mother India. She also said, “My intention was never to hurt people’s sentiments, and the viral video clip is altered. The video can be seen here.
Conclusion: After a frame-by-frame analysis of the video we found that the viral video being circulated is clipped and shown out of context to spread religious propaganda.