A video of an inaugural ceremony of the Telengana collectorate office is doing rounds on social media. In the viral video, a Muslim cleric (Maulvi) can be seen reciting verses of the Quran. Giving this video a communal spin, people on social media claimed that a Muslim cleric recited religious verses at the inauguration of the Collector’s office in Telangana.
A Twitter user shared this video and wrote, “Has Telangana become the first Islamic state of India?? The new building of the collector office in Telangana was inaugurated by reciting namaz and kalma.” This tweet has got 23k views and 500+ retweets.
Another user wrote, “Has #Telangana become the first Islamic state of India?? The new building of #Collectorate_office in Telangana was inaugurated by reciting namaz and kalma. Today Telangana’s #Muslims are also making fun of their stupidity which they have done by forming #Congress government there. #Jago_Hindu_Jago.”
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
Claim:
Muslim cleric recites Islamic verses during the inauguration of new collectorate office in Karnataka.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the claim and found it to be false. Priests of other religions including Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, were also called for the inauguration.
During the initial investigation, we did an open keyword search and came across an extended version of the viral video on the official YouTube handle of Telangana CMO dated June 04, 2023. The title of the video reads, “Live: CM Sri KCR inaugurating Nirmal District Integrated Offices’ Complex.” According to it, CM KCR had arrived to inaugurate the Nirmal District Integrated Office Complex. From 9:53 of timestamp in the video, one can see a Hindu priest offering prayers.
At 15:32 seconds of timestamp, one can see similar footage as seen in the viral video. Later, at 17 minutes of time stamp, a priest from the Christian community can also be seen reciting verses of the Holy Bible. Priests of the Hindu and Muslim communities can also be seen standing in the background.
On searching more, we also found the same video on a YouTube channel of a Telengana-based news portal named ‘T News Telugu.’ The title of the video reads, “CM KCR Honors Nirmal Collector | KCR Inaugurates Nirmal Integrated Collectorate | T News”. In this 6-minute-long video report, the viral clip appears at the 1:35 mark, where a Islamic priest can be seen reciting Quran verses. At the 2:52 mark, a Christian priest can also be seen reciting verses of the Bible.
We also found a tweet from the collector of Nirmal district, dated June 4 where he tweeted pictures of the inauguration ceremony. He can be seen with a Hindu priest in some of these pictures. The caption of the tweet reads, “Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao inaugurated the new Integrated District Community Office (IDOC) of Nirmal district today. @TelanganaCMO.”
Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the viral video is cropped and presented out of context. In the original video, the inauguration ceremony was attended by the priest of the Hindu, Muslim, and Christian communities, where they recited the verses of their religion. Hence, the viral claim is false.
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: Did A Man Climb High-Tower To Offer Namaz? Old Video From Columbia Viral With False Communal Spin
https://thelogicalindian.com/h-upload/2023/06/19/500x300_232212-new-project-2023-06-19t135459300.webp
Fact Check
2023-06-19 10:29:39.0
Video Of Muslim Cleric Reciting Islamic Verses During Telangana Collectorate Inauguration Viral With Misleading Claims
