The viral video of a man barging a durga puja pandal and stopping bhajans is not true.
A Durga Puja pandal video is getting viral on several social media platforms claiming to be from Malad, Mumbai, with the following text :
“दुर्गा पंडाल में घुसकर भजन बंद करवा कर बोला, “कॉलोनी में रहना है तो असलम भाई कहना है, यहां मोदी नहीं आएगा !” मलाड मुंबई की घटना ! पंडाल में अजान करवाकर उसे साम्प्रदायिक सद्भाव की मिसाल बताने वाले न्यूज़ चैनल में दम है ये खबर दिखाने की !”
Translation: “A person entered Durga puja pandal in Malad and forced to stop the bhajan and said, “If you want to live in the colony, praise Aslam Bhai as Modi will not come here!”
The news channel, which allowed Azaan in the pandal, describing it as an example of communal harmony will not tell you this news.”
Claim: The viral video claims to be from the Malad area of Mumbai where a person barged into a Durga puja pandal and asked people to stop playing bhajans. He further states that if you want to live in this colony then praise Aslam Bhai as Modi will not come here to save you.
A Facebook page ournation_47 shared the same viral video which garnered around 5300 views.
Twitter
दुर्गा पंडाल में घुसकर भजन बंद करवा कर बोला,
"कॉलोनी में रहना है तो असलम भाई कहना है, यहां मोदी नहीं आएगा !"
मलाड मुंबई की घटना !पंडाल में अजान करवाकर उसे साम्प्रदायिक सद्भाव की मिसाल बताने वाले न्यूज़ चैनल में दम है ये खबर दिखाने की !@Brand_Netan @Brand_Anuj
👇🏻👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/Xeo6jg4vl6— बबली पांडेय (@Real_bably) October 17, 2020
A Twitter handle @real_bably tweeted the viral video which got 2800 likes and 2800 retweets. The archived link of this tweet can be accessed here.
दुर्गा पंडाल में घुसकर भजन बंद करवा कर बोला, कॉलोनी में रहना है तो असलम भाई कहना है, यहां मोदी नहीं आएगा !मलाड मुंबई की घटना
पंडाल में अजान करवाकर उसे साम्प्रदायिक सद्भाव की मिसाल बताने वाले न्यूज़ चैनल में दम है ये खबर दिखाने की ! pic.twitter.com/cKfrThjYH2
— देव 🇮🇳 (@Isaydev) October 18, 2020
दुर्गा पंडाल में घुसकर भजन बंद करवा कर बोला,
"कॉलोनी में रहना है तो असलम भाई कहना है, यहां मोदी नहीं आएगा !"
मलाड मुंबई की घटना !पंडाल में अजान करवाकर उसे साम्प्रदायिक सद्भाव की मिसाल बताने वाले न्यूज़ चैनल में दम है ये खबर दिखाने की !
👇🏻👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/IhV6LeD89q
— Girik Indoliya (@GirikIndoliya) October 17, 2020
Truth
During the course of our investigation, we found out that this viral video is embedded in an old news story done by the news nation website, which was further fact checked by BBC
The timestamp in this story clearly mentions that this story was published on 10th October 2019. The archived link to this story can be accessed from here.
Looking closely at the video shows, no one is afraid or bothered even a bit, even the guy asked to stop the songs is smiling and agreeing.
On further investigation, we found out a fact check story done by the BBC last year on the same viral video. The BBC story states that “The reverse image search shows that the person seen in the video interrupting the Durga Puja pandal is named ‘Ashish Singh‘ on Facebook. The viral video on his Facebook profile can also be seen, which he posted on October 8, 2019, at seven-thirty. According to his Facebook profile, Ashish is the owner of a gym and is also the vice president of Yuva Ekta Social Society. When the BBC contacted Ashish, he told the BBC that his name is Ashish Singh and his video which is going viral on the social video is from the Maloni area of Malad.“I am a Hindu myself and the video was made for entertainment purposes only,” Ashish told the BBC. Some people are spreading my video with the wrong message so that the communal atmosphere can be spoiled. “
Ashish further states that the person with whom he goes to the pandal in the video is Nadeem Sheikh and the other person he asks to name ‘Aslam Bhai’ is Ravi Shankar Dubey. Ashish said that after the video went viral, he and Ravi had posted another video on social media in which he appealed to the people not to share his Durga Puja Pandal video incorrectly. After this, he also filed a complaint in this context on 10 October 2019 at Malwani Police Station.”
The BBC fact check story can be accessed from the following link.
Therefore in our investigation, the claims made on the viral video were found to be false.
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