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Fact Check: No, The Viral Video Is Not Of Holi Celebration At Atal Tunnel
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, 31 March 2021 1:44 PM GMT
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National spokesperson of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vinod Bansal shared a video of a colourful firework claiming to be of Holi celebration. However, The Logical Indian Fact-Check team found the video is old and from King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Suadi Arabia.
National spokesperson of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Vinod Bansal, shared a video of a colourful fireworks display claiming that the image is of Holi celebration in India. He shared the video with a caption that translates in English as, "Please watch... Holi's magnificent and beautiful video." The archive of the post can be seen here.
Many social media users shared the video with different captions, but all claiming that the video is of Atal Tunnel, a highway tunnel built under the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh.
Claim:
Viral video is of Holi celebration in the Atal tunnel, Himachal Pradesh.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian did a reverse image search with a screenshot of the video and found the same video was published on a YouTube channel Joseph Luel Undag on October 20, 2018. The title of the video says, "Ithra fireworks Display in Saudi Aramco."
Another YouTube channel also uploaded a video of Ithra fireworks on October 21, 2018. This video is shot from a different angle, but the building visible in the viral video can be seen.
On searching with the keyword "Ithra fireworks", we found that Ithra, also known as King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, is an institute located in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It is a cultural centre that comprises museums, library and theatre and exhibition halls, according to its website. It was built in October 2016 as a project by Aramco, a Saudi Arabian oil company.
We compared a screenshot from the viral video with an image of Ithra present on Google and found both to be the same.
We also found that a video of the firework at Ithra was also shared by the Prince Abdullah bin Khalid al Saud of Riyadh on October 28, 2018, with the caption, "Beautiful daytime fireworks show at @Ithra in Dhahran."
The video of colourful firework is also present on the Facebook page of Ithra with a caption, "Yesterday at #Ithra, our audience looked up to see a colorful artistic sky with our daylight fireworks, and they looked around to see 18,000 visitors with one goal, to get inspired."
Hence, the viral image is of Ithra and not Atal Tunnel, as claimed by social media users.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: Fact Check: Video Falsely Claiming Ajay Devgn Got Beaten Up By Farmers In Delhi Viral
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