A video of a man angrily confront another man carrying what appears to be religious books is being shared with a false claim that it exposes a racket of distorted versions of the Bhagvad Gita published by Muslims and Christians.
BOOM found that the claim is false as the books in the video expound the teachings of godman Rampal.
A Twitter user tweeted the video with the caption, "A Christian caught selling fake BhagawadGita: "Gita" written on the cover, chapters inside read "Pavitra Bible, Pavitra Qur'an". (sic)
Click here to view the tweet.
Another user posted the video with the caption, "Fake Hindu dharm books,edited by Anti-Hindus,selling at cheaper rate through out India 2 mislead. Mslms and Xians r editing,as if they are published by Gita Press from Gorakhpur You can find the videos of edited hindu dharm books at YouTube. Be aware, We have to expose them". (sic)
Click here to view the tweet.
ISKCON Kolkata vice president Radharaman Das tweeted the video with a similar communal claim.
BOOM also received the same claim on its WhatsApp tipline number (7700906588) with a verification request.
Fact Check
BOOM first observed the video closely and identified the book that can be seen in the video. Upon breaking the video into keyframes, we observed that the name of the book is 'Geethani Gnana Amrutham'.
(Original name of the book in Telugu: గీతా నీ జ్ఞాన అమృతం)
The keyframes from the viral video can be seen below.
We also noticed that the book mentions Sant Rampal Das as its author.
Taking a cue, we ran a keyword search with the book's name in Telugu and found the book available on self-styled godman Rampal Das' official website. The book, on the website, can be found in different languages. The same book is also available on amazon.in and priced at Rs 200.
We then went through the English version of the same book named 'The Knowledge Of Gita Is Nectar'. Rampal, in the introduction of the book, writes, "There are in total 18 (eighteen) Chapters and 700 (seven hundred) Verses in Holy Book Gita. I have taken description from this Holy Book as per requirement, and composed this Text “The Knowledge of Gita is Nectar”. Like, there are herbs in a forest. A doctor takes necessary herbs from that forest and prepares a life-giving medicine from them. The forest still exists."
The Telugu version of the book can be read here.
It can also be observed that Rampal has written about his views about other religions such as Christianity, Islam in the book. The same was tweeted from a verified handle operating in the name of Rampal.
Click here to view the tweet.
Who Is Sant Rampal?
Rampal, who identifies himself as a descendant of Sant Kabir, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018. A report published by The Hindu states that Rampal Singh and 14 others were convicted in a case related to the murder of four women at Hisar.
The New York Times in 2014 reported that Haryana police arrested self-styled godman Rampal in 2014 with the help of paramilitary forces after a weeklong standoff between the law enforcers and his supporters. Considering his influence, the Supreme Court in 2020 rejected Rampal's plea for an interim bail to attend his grand-daughter's wedding.