An old photo of Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state and leader of People’s Democratic Party offering puja at a temple is circulating on social media with misleading claims that she visited a temple after the abrogation of Article 370.
BOOM found that the image is at least six years old. Mufti, the then Chief Minister of the state, offered milk to goddess Ragnya Devi at the Kheer Bhawani temple in Srinagar in 2016. The temple is located in Srinagar's Ganderbal.
The viral image shared on social media shows Mufti offering milk to the deity with a pot in her hands.
The image has been tweeted by the verified account of Dinesh Desai, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker and President of Maldhari Sena Gujarat with a caption in Hindi, “If there is Modi, everything is smooth”. The caption hints at the abrogation of Article 370 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure in the country. Article 370's abrogation resulted in the end of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
(Original text in Hindi: “मोदी है तो मुमकिन है“।)
Click here to view the archived Tweet.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search and found several news reports on the image in 2016.
According to an NDTV report, Mufti, the then Chief Minister of the state went to offer prayers at Kheer Bhawani Temple in Ganderbal, which is 35 kms away from Srinagar on June 12, 2016.
During her visit, Mufti also interacted with two Kashmiri Hindu pandits who were injured after a bus attack.
The same incident including the image was also reported by Hindustan Times on June 13. Waseem Andrabi clicked the image for HT Photo.
Kashmiri Pandits take part in the annually held fair following a puja at the temple of Kheer Bhawani Durga also known as Ragnya Goddess. Mufti attended the event on June 12, the same year.
BOOM has however not found any recent report where Mufti offered prayers in the temple.
Mufti ruled the state as Chief Minister from April 8, 2016 to June 19, 2018. She resigned following the end of an alliance of her party, PDP with the BJP. On August 5, 2019 the Article 370 and 25 were abrogated and two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, came into effect on October 31 that year. Both territories are currently run by a Lieutenant Governor who functions as administrative head appointed by the President of India.
BOOM Hindi and BOOM Bangla have simultaneously debunked the misleading claim about the image when it went viral in the respective languages in September, 2022.