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Image Credit: Twitter/Giriraj Singh
PM Modi Built Statue Of Equality In Hyderabad? No, Viral Claim Is False
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Telangana, 11 Jan 2022 12:37 PM GMT
Editor : Bharat Nayak |
As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Social media users including BJP leaders are sharing a video falsely claiming that PM Modi is building a statue of a Hindu saint in Hyderabad. The statue of Equality, dedicated to Saint Sri Ramanujacharya was built by Jeeyar Educational Trust with the help of donations given by their devotees across the world.
A video that looks like a news report is going viral on social media. In the viral video, a statue, footage of PM Modi and MP Asaduddin Owaisi can be seen. It is being claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party are building the world's tallest statue of a Hindu saint in Hyderabad, which is a stronghold of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi. While sharing this video, people on social media are mocking Asaduddin Owaisi and linking it to the upcoming Uttar Pradesh election.
BJP leader and Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, Giriraj Singh also shared this video. He captioned it Hindi, "अब आया ऊंट पहाड़ के नीचे। जय महादेव." [English Translation: Now he has been cut down to size. Jai Mahadev]
A Twitter user shared this video and captioned it in Hindi, "ओवैसी के घर के बगल में मोदी जी बनवा रहे हैं महान तपस्वी संत "रामानुजाचार्य" की भव्य दिव्य 216 फुट ऊंची "स्टैचू आफ इक्वलिटी" जिस से नफरत करते हो अब रोज करो दीदार."
[English Translation: Modi ji is building a grand divine 216 feet high "Statue of Equality" of great ascetic saint "Ramanujacharya" next to Owaisi's house. Whom you hate, now see it every day.]
It is being widely shared on Twitter and Facebook with a similar claim. Click here, here and here to read.
Claim:
BJP and PM Modi is building the world's tallest Hindu saint statue in Hyderabad.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. Jeeyar Educational Trust built the statue with the help of donations from their devotees.
On observing the video, we noticed a few words like Statue of Equality, Ramanujacharya, Hyderabad being said quite a few times in the video. Taking a cue, we did an open keyword search and found several reports in which similar statue can be seen. According to the report of News18 dated Aug 28th 2021, on the occasion of the millennium birth anniversary of Saint Sri Ramanujacharya (Vaishnavaite Saint Bhagavad Ramanuja), a 216 feet high statue has been installed near Sri Ram Nagar Jiva Ashram in Hyderabad. Ramanujacharya statue also known as the Statue of Equality is made from a mixture of Ashtadhatu.
We also found several video reports on this. According to the report of TV9 Bharatvarsh, the project costing Rs 1000 crore is spread over an area of more than 75 acres. The largest statue of Ramanujacharya is built in China, which costs about Rs 400 crore. Another statue of Ramanujacharya, made of 120 kg of gold, will be kept in the sanctum of the temple.
After that, we started checking the different sections of the Statue of Equality website. During this, we saw an update regarding the invitation to PM Modi. According to it, HH Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the inaugural event of the 216 feet Bhagavad Ramanujacharya and the 108 centres of Inspiration. The event is set to take place from Feb 2nd to Feb 14th 2022 where PM Modi will unveil the statue. Other reports also mentioned invitations to the President, Vice President, Chief Ministers of different states, cabinet ministers and other dignitaries.
On further investigation, we also found the financial report on the trust's website which mentions the donations received for this museum and its expenditure. The trust also appealed to its devotees across the world for donations. However, it is noteworthy that nowhere it mention any sort of denotation from the Bharatiya Janata Party or by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The financial report can be accessed by clicking here.
We spoke to Chinna Jeeyar Swamy (Ashram) about the viral claim as well. Bharatiya Laxmi, a member of the management committee, while talking to The Logical Indian said, "There is no involvement of any political party, not BJP nor any party. It is all made from donations only. Not Telugu Desam Party, not Telangana Rashtra Samithi, not any other party. We are preparing everything from donations only. All the parties will have to say something about it but it is not true, we collected donations from Rs 1. We have taken donations, and we have printed receipts of each and every donation. We started taking donations from 2014."
He further said, "In the inauguration of the statue of Equality, we have invited all Chief Ministers irrespective of the political party they belong to including Supreme Court Judges. Judges don't belong to any political party. We have no soft corner for BJP. We have invited Asaduddin Owaisi as well. We are inviting all ministers, we're not concerned about any party."
It is evident from our investigation that the statue of Equality, dedicated to Saint Sri Ramanujacharya was built by Jeeyar Educational Trust with the help of donations given by their devotees across the world. Though PM Modi will unveil it on Feb 5th 2022 but It has nothing to do with BJP or PM Modi. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.
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: Was There A Cabinet Meeting Led By PM Modi To Remove Sikhs From Indian Army? Know The Truth!
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