A video clip showing a woman dancing on a Hindi film song while other women are cheering her on is viral on social media with sarcastic captions suggesting that pandemic guidelines were flouted at Bhopal's National Health Mission office.
BOOM contacted the mission director of NHM, Madhya Pradesh who told us that the video was from a Women's Day celebration held at the office on March 8, and COVID-19 rules were duly followed.
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The video is viral in the backdrop of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh. The state government has imposed night curfew in Bhopal and Indore from March 15 and also observed a day-long complete lockdown on March 21 in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur. The decision to impose lockdown was taken at a meeting held to review the pandemic situation in the state on Friday, reported Hindustan Times.
The 90-second-long shows a woman dancing in, what looks like, a conference hall. Other women in the hall can be seen cheering her. At one point in the video one can clearly see National Health Mission (राष्ट्रीय स्वास्थय मिशन) written on a board in the hall. However, not many women seen in the video are wearing a mask.
The video has been shared on the verified Facebook page Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress on March 19 with a sarcastic Hindi caption which translates to 'A serious discussion on Corona at Bhopal's national health mission's office...Shivraj ji, what is this?'
(Hindi: भोपाल में राष्ट्रीय स्वास्थ्य मिशन की कार्यशाला में कोरोना पर गंभीर चर्चा..! - शिवराज जी ये क्या हो रहा है..?)
The same video has been shared from a Twitter handle with a Hindi caption translating to 'In Madhya Pradesh, during a workshop of Rashtriya Swastha Mission serious measured are being discussed! Nice nieces of Mamaji'.
It may be noted that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is fondly called Mamaji in MP.
(Hindi: मध्यप्रदेश में राष्ट्रीय स्वास्थ्य मिशन की कार्यशाला में कोरोना पर गंभीर चर्चा की जा रही है! मामाजी की लाडली भांजियां..)
The video has been shared on Facebook with same caption in Hindi.
Click here to see the video.
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Fact Check
BOOM did a keyword search with relevant words taking cue from the "Rashtriya Swasthya Mission" board seen in the viral video. We found many news reports about the incident.
According to a report published in Bhaskar on March 17, the video was shot in the office of National Health Mission (NHM) situated in Bhopal's No. 3 Link Road. ETV Bharat and Patrika also reported about the incident on March 17.
BOOM then contacted Chhavi Bharadwaj, Mission Director of NHM, Madhya Pradesh to get more details on the incident.
Speaking to BOOM, Bharadwaj said, "It was a small women's day celebration at office on March 8. Female data entry operators and other female staff working day in and out since past one year had requested for an hour-long meet in the office. COVID norms were duly followed. However, some selective clips have been circulated by sections of media. It is extremely disappointing and shameful that a simple celebration by working women should hurt them so much."