Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on social media platforms. In the 25-second video a person was seen demolishing what looked like an entrance. It was claimed along with the video that the person seen in the video was a Muslim demolishing a temple. During the investigation we found the claim to be false. The video shows the demolition of dargah and not a temple.
Claim:
X user @rajasolanki71070 shared the viral video along with the claim on his profile.
Check the archive version of the claim here.
Other social media users too are sharing the video with the same claim.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by uploading the video in the InVid tool and obtaining several keyframes to search these using Google reverse image search.
While running a reverse image search on a keyframe we found a news story on the website of India Today.
The report uploaded in October 2022 had keyframes similar to the viral video.
The report mentioned: Tensions prevailed for a brief period in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur after a dargah was demolished to construct a Mosque in the location. However, police officials say that the situation is now under control.
The incident occurred at LB Nagar in Guntur on October 12, when a few people tried to demolish a dargah using hammers and the locals intervened and stopped them.
The report mentioned: According to the Lalapet police inspector, “The Baji Baba dargah was established by AS Ratnam alias Rahman who has resided in the area for the past 40 years. He set up a samadhi for his wife in the same land 15 years ago. He informed his daughter and neighbours to construct a mosque after his death.”
BJP former national secretary Sunil Deohar too shared the viral video on his profile, stating that a dargah was demolished.
We found another tweet that said that a dargah was demolished.
We found another news report on the website of Zee News.
The report mentioned: An attempt has been made to demolish a dargah in Guntur. People are opposing the demolition of the dargah and BJP has also given a loud voice to that protest. Let us tell you that only Muslims have been accused of trying to demolish the dargah.
Conclusion: Old video of dargah being demolished to build a mosque in Guntur falsely shared as a temple being destroyed by Muslims. Viral claims are misleading.
