Video of cricketers Umran Malik & Siraj refusing tilak given false communal angle
A video of the Indian cricket team arriving at Nagpur on 2 February is circulating on social media with a communal angle.
By Sunanda Naik
Hyderabad: A video of the Indian cricket team arriving at Nagpur on 2 February is circulating on social media with a communal angle.
In the viral video, the hotel staff can be seen welcoming the cricketers with tilak. Some of the players do not mind applying the tilak but some of them politely refuse. Netizens are claiming that only players from the Muslim community refused the tilak.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false.
We started our investigation by carefully analysing the video and found that Mohammad Shami is not seen in the video. We also noticed that not only Siraj but many other players refused the tilak.
In a YouTube video, News Tak also debunked the viral claim. It reported that out of 11 members, four denied the tilak, including Mohammad Siraj and Umran Malik. The other two members were Vikram Rathore, the batting coach, and Hari Mohan Prasad, the performance analyst. It also reported that the viral clip has been manipulated to show that only the Muslim players refused the tika. The reporter also called it selective targeting.
Hence, the viral claim is false. It is clearly a matter of choice and not religion.
