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Fact Check: Video Of Celebration Of Holi Using Gunshots Viral With Claim Of Diwali Celebrations In Rajasthan
Writer: Yusha Rahman
Yusha, an engineer turned journalist with a core interest in sensible journalism. Since the time she worked in an MNC, she saw how fake news was rife to malign images of communities, leaders, etc. This encouraged her to give up her career in MNC and passionately work towards curbing fake news and propaganda.
India, 24 Nov 2020 11:59 AM GMT
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A video of Holi celebration in Rajasthan's Menar village is being shared with the false claim of Diwali celebration by Rajputs to protest against firecrackers ban.
Ashok Gehlot on November 2, 2020, had announced a ban on the sale of firecrackers in Rajasthan to protect the common public and the patients of coronavirus from poisonous gases. The decision was taken before Diwali to keep a check on air pollution which is on the rise in North India.
In context to this, a video has gone viral on social media where people are seen doing air-firing. The video is being shared with the claim that it belongs to Rajasthan where people are firing gunshots in the air to celebrate Diwali because Ashok Gehlot banned firecrackers.
The video is being shared with the caption, "राजस्थान में अशोक गहलोत की कोंग्रेस सरकार ने दिवाली पर पटाखे बेन किये। फिर क्या, वहाँ के राजपूतों ने अपने अंदाज़ में दिवाली मनाई? जय राजपुताना" (which translates in English as, "In Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot's Congress government banned firecrackers during Diwali. So, there the Rajputs celebrated Diwali in their style.")
The same post is also viral on Facebook.
Claim:
Rajputs in Rajasthan did air-firing during Diwali as crackers were banned in the state.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian did a reverse image search on Yandex using keyframe from the video using InVid tool and found a similar video which was published on March 23, 2019, on a YouTube channel named Jitendra Janwa. The video is published with the caption, 'Mewad ki Holi.'
We also found a longer version of the viral video on a YouTube channel published on September 16, 2017, much before the ban on firecrackers in Rajsthan.
The point to note here is that Diwali was on November 14, this year. Thus the video is definitely not of Diwali this year.
We used the keyword, 'Holi, Rajasthan, gunshots' to search on Google and found a story published on the website, Udaipur beats. The article spoke about the celebration of Holi as Jabri Gair in Menar village, Rajasthan and the use of gunshots for the same.
According to an article published in The Times Of India regarding the celebration of Holi in Menar village, the people of the village use swords, guns and crackers to celebrate Holi. These people have been doing so since 400 years to celebrate the victory of Rana Udai Singh, king of Udaipur over Mughals. This is also called as 'Baroodon ki Holi' which is played by the inhabitants of Menar village who fought a battle under the leadership of Rana Udai Singh to prevent their village from the plunder and loot planned by Mughals. The men do 'Gair' dance by carrying a sword and a stick in each hand, while women sing songs to remark the glory of heroism and valour.
The main inhabitants of the village are the Menaria Brahmins after whom the village got its name, 'Menar'. So the people who are firing air shots in the video are Brahmins and not Rajputs as claimed by the social media.
Thus, the video is of Holi celebration in Rajasthan's Menar that happens every year but is being shared with the false context of the Diwali celebrations by Rajputs after the ban of firecrackers.
The report was earlier fact-checked by Alt News.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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