A photo showing a sea of devotees in a street during the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha, is being falsely linked to the recent consecration ceremony for Ayodhya's Ram Mandir that was held on January 22, 2024.
The Ram Temple in Ayodhya was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, 2024 in the presence of Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Chief Mohan Bhagwat. The ceremony comes decades after legal dispute over the land after the Babri Masjid was demolished by a violent mob back in December 1992.
The viral photo was also posted by former Time Now anchor Rahul Shivshankar on X (formerly known as Twitter), as in his post he talks about devotees arriving in Ayodhya for the consecration ceremony at the Ram Mandir. Shivshankar posted two photos, the first is the viral photo, and the second photo is from Ayodhya.
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The same photo is also being shared on Facebook with the false claim. The caption when translated reads, "Ayodhya today Tuesday 23/1. /2024 scene recognize who is Kshatriya who is Brahmin, who is Shudra, who is Vaishya?, Who is the Jat, who is the Pandit, Who is the vest, who is the Gurjar, We are all just the servants of Ram, Ram for all of us, Ram in all of us, keeping this unity, We Sanatani's were only divided among castes just to rule.. *"
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BOOM also received the same photo on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 77009 06588) with the same false claim.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo is from June 2023 during the annual Jagannath Rath Yatra that is held in Puri, Odisha.
We ran a keyword search using Google Lens, which search results showed that the viral photo is from Odisha and not from Ayodhya as being claimed on social media. The photo was carried by several news articles reporting on the annual Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra. The yatra was held from June 20, 2023 to June 28, 2023.
The same photo was also posted by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on June 23, 2023, along with a group of other photos from the yatra.
The second photo posted by Rahul Shivshankar is from Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, a day after the consecration ceremony for Ayodhya's Ram Mandir held on Janaury 22, 2024. On running a reverse image search we found several news reports with the viral photo and footage on devotes outside the Ram Mandir.
The viral photo has been taken from footage reported by PTI on January 23, 2024.