A photo tweeted by a fake Twitter account impersonating UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has gone viral after it claimed that Johnson is a big fan of Indian culture and that he performed Shri Ram Abhishek with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on August 5.
An 'abhishek' is the act of bathing or purifying an image or statue of a deity before worshiping it.
BOOM found out that the account that tweeted the picture is fake and that the photo is from December 2019 and does not show an idol of the Hindu deity Ram.
The viral image shows Johnson and Patel pouring water over a golden statue. The tweet has been retweeted over 14,000 times and has been liked more than 60,000 times.
The text of the tweet reads: "I'm a big fan of Indian Culture So I Did "SHRI RAM ABHISHEK" With Our Home minister at my Residence On 5th of August. (sic)
The foundation stone for the proposed Ram temple was laid in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5.
The same photo and caption have also been shared multiple times on Facebook.
The archive of the viral tweet can be found here and the archive of the Facebook posts can be found here and here.
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Fact Check
The account that shared the image has the handle @BorisUKJohnson. In the bio, it mentions that it is an unofficial account and is a fan club (FC). Moreover, the account was created in July 2020 and has only 24 tweets. Boris Johnson's official account is @BorisJohnson.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the fake Twitter account of Boris Johnson (L) and Boris Johnson's real account (R).
BOOM reverse searched the image on Google and found this tweet from Boris Johnson on December 11, 2019 where he mentioned visiting Neasden Temple and the ISCKON Manor. The image used in the tweet by the fake account is the same as the one tweeted by Johnson on December 11, 2019.
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in London is commonly known as the Neasden Temple. BOOM then ran a search with the keywords "Boris Johnson Neasden Temple" and were directed to this article on the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha's website. The headline of the article reads: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Visits Neasden Temple, London, UK.
BOOM found this image of Johnson and Patel shot from a different angle with the caption: The Prime Minister and Home Secretary also performed an abhishek of Shri Nilkanth Varni.
Screenshot of the image from the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha website
A video compilation uploaded by the YouTube channel of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha features a clip of Johnson and Patel performing an abhishek of a statue at the 0.25 minute mark.