Religion

Video of priest vandalizing sweet shops falsely shared as BJP supporters looting those who refused to donate for Ram Mandir

Written by Md Mahfooz Alam

A video is being circulated on social media with the claim that BJP supporters looted the sweets shops for not donating to the construction of the Ram Mandir. In the video, a group of men can be seen ransacking into the shop and throwing away the sweets on the street.

Facto News verified that the video is from the Ayodhya. However, it is not in any way related to Ram Mandir construction or its donation.

A Facebook user Singaraj D posted the video with the caption that reads: “RSS is doing anarchy asking money to build Ram temple….”

(Photo Caption: Facebook/Screenshot)

Another Facebook user Ramesh Kannan made the same claim with a slightly different caption: For the construction of Ram temple For the one who doesn’t have the guts to donate….Sweet shop is a keda….? Oh Rama… Rama…!”

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Screenshot)

Multiple Facebook users have made the same claim in the Tamil language with slightly different captions.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Screenshot)

A Twitter user Savukku Shankar made a similar claim in Tamil.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Screenshot)

FactO Check: 

Facto News has previously debunked the same video which was viral with the claim that people were offering ‘Laddus’ instead of money in the temple, which angered the priest and they started throwing Laddus from the shops.

According to an article published in the Amar Ujala on 30 June 2021. The incident is related to the holy offerings in the Hanuman Garhi Mandir of the Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The offering of Laddu was stopped in the temple because of the COVID-19 protocol. Premdas, the Mahant (Head Priest) of the temple wanted to restart the ritual of offering sweets.

However, the other priests of the temple didn’t agree with the decision of the Mahant. They complained of the poor quality of the sweets and were against the offering of stale sweets to God Hanuman.  This led to the ruckus, and the temple was closed for one and half hours. Amar Ujala also reports that Naga Sadhus against the decision of the Mahant ransacked the sweet shops around the temple and threw away the Laddus on the streets.

(Photo Courtesy: Amar Ujala/Screenshot)

In an article published in the Dainik Bhaskar, the newspaper also confirms the incident and reports that the shop owners protested the action of the priests. However, the police arrived at the time and controlled the situation.

 

(Photo Courtesy: Dainik Bhaskar/Screenshot)

Conclusion:

From the above reports, it is evident that the video is not related to Ram Mandir or its donation and the claim being made is completely untrue and misleading.

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About the author

Md Mahfooz Alam

Mahfooz is a multimedia journalist and regularly writes fact-check stories for Facto News. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. He has worked as an intern fact-checker for The Quint. He specializes in research and fact-checking and aspires to do investigative reporting.

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