A video purportedly displaying the interiors of a cultural center in Nagpur, Maharashtra, has been circulating on social media with false claims that it showcases visuals from Ayodhya's Ram temple. This misinformation comes amid speculative reports suggesting the nearing completion of Ayodhya's Ram temple, with its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected in January 2024.
India TV did a Fact Check
India TV's Fact Check team has confirmed that the video actually originates from Nagpur's Sanskritik Kendra (Cultural Centre), developed by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan organisation. The center's inauguration took place on July 5, 2023, by the President of India, Draupadi Murmu.
The video, falsely captioned as "Inside view of Sri Ramar Temple Ayodhya, final finishing work going on," has been widely shared on Facebook and other platforms. To verify its authenticity, India TV's Fact Check team conducted a reverse image search on keyframes from the video. They discovered a similar YouTube Shorts video titled "shree Ram Dham || Koradi Mandir || Nagpur ram mandir," uploaded on July 8, 2023. This video also featured a watermark reading "Nagpur Experience."
Screenshot of real video
Further investigations led to an ABP Live Marathi news report titled "President Draupadi Murmu, on first visit to Vidarbha, to inaugurate the Ramayana Cultural Center in Koradi on July 5." The images in the report closely resembled the visuals in the viral video.
ABP Live Marathi news report
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) also shared images of President Murmu's visit to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan’s Cultural Centre in Koradi, Nagpur, on July 5, 2023. Additionally, President Murmu posted images of her visit to the Cultural Centre on her Twitter account. ETV Bharat's video report on Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Cultural Centre featured similar visuals.
Conclusion
The video circulating with claims of showing Ayodhya's Ram temple is, in fact, footage from Nagpur's Cultural Centre and not related to the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
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