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Uttar Pradesh
Did CM Yogi Adityanath Apply Ashes Of A Dead Soldier On His Forehead? No, Video Viral With False Claim
|A Facebook user shared the viral video and wrote a caption that reads, "Koti koti naman. UP CM MrYogi Adityanath is a great saint who put the ashes on the forehead of a soldier from Uttar Pradesh who died a heroic death. It is truly our great fortune to have such people as rulers of our country."
Yogi Adityanath has been sworn in as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for 2nd consecutive term.
A video of Yogi Adityanath applying ashes on his forehead while the Bollywood song "Teri Mitti" playing in the background is going viral on social media. In this 29-second-long video, he can be seen applying ashes on others' foreheads as well. While sharing this video, social media users claimed that UP CM Yogi Adityanath applied the ashes of "a soldier from Uttar Pradesh who died a heroic death" on his forehead to pay tribute.
A Facebook user shared this video and wrote a caption that reads, "Koti koti naman. UP CM MrYogi Adityanath is a great saint who put the ashes on the forehead of a soldier from Uttar Pradesh who died a heroic death. It is truly our great fortune to have such people as rulers of our country."
A Twitter user wrote, "Touching very Touching ❣CM @myogiadityanath ji is a great saint who put the ashes on the forehead of a soldier from Uttar Pradesh who died a heroic death. It is truly our great fortune to have such people as rulers of our country."
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
Claim:
UP CM Yogi Adityanath applied the ashes of a soldier from Uttar Pradesh on his forehead.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral video is a ritual related to Holi celebrations.
During the initial investigation, we extracted different keyframes from the viral video using the InVid tool and conducted a Google reverse image search. It led us to a tweet of Dr. Prachi Sadhvi in which similar footage can be seen. The caption of the video reads in Hindi, "हमारे सनातन की परंम्परा है होलिका की राख ठंढी होने के बाद उसे माथे पे लगाते हैं @myogiadityanath जी."
[English Translation: Our Sanatan tradition is to apply Holika's ashes on the forehead after it cools down @myogiadityanath ji.]
Taking a hint from it, we did an open keyword search and found a video report of News18 dated 19 March 2022. According to the report, Yogi Adityanath visited Gorakhpur and participated in the Narasimha procession. During this, he applied Holika's ashes on his forehead which is a tradition in Gorakhnath Mandir. At 0:07 second of the time stamp, the news anchor can be heard about the ritual of applying Holika's ashes on the forehead.
On searching more, we also found a report of ETV Bharat dated 19 March 2022, which mentioned about this tradition. The report states that Yogi Adityanath led the procession of Lord Narsingh in Gorakhpur after applying 'tilak' to sages and other people present there with the ashes of Holika Dahan at Gorakhpur temple. In another report, Yogi Adityanath can also be seen applying ashes on his forehead. The title of the report reads in English, "Holi of Gorakhnath temple begins with the ashes of Holikadahan, CM Yogi leads."
To sum up, a video of Yogi Adityanath applying the ashes of Holika Dahan on his forehead which is a tradition of Gorakhpur Temple falsely shared as UP CM applying the ashes of a soldier who died a heroic death. Hence, the viral claim is false.
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