FACT CHECK: BJP shares edited video clip of Mamata Banerjee reciting Islamic verses

This followed Mamata Banerjee's outburst after she was greeted with 'Jai Shree Ram' chants during the commemoration event of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Kolkata.

"If CM Mamata Banerjee can recite an Islamic prayer at a West Bengal government event, why does she have a problem being greeted with Jai Shree Ram? Appeasement? She disgraced Bengal and insulted Netaji's legacy by her conduct at the event to commemorate Netaji's anniversary (sic)," BJP's Bengal unit tweeted. (Archive)

The claim has been shared by multiple users on Twitter and Facebook. Click here and here to view.

FACT CHECK:

NewsMeter found that the viral clip is from 2018 and shared with false claims.

We analyzed the video and found the longer version of the clip that Banerjee had delivered a speech at the Mati Utsav in East Bardhaman in January 2018. The title of the video reads: `Bengal CM inaugurates Mati Utsav 2018 in Mati Tirtha-Krishi Katha, Purba Burdwan'

At the timestamp of 21:30, she concludes her speech by reciting prayers. She recites Islamic verses while praying for everyone's good health and prosperity to Allah, which shows a cropped part of the video shared by BJP Bengal (at 22:50 mark).

She even recites the prayers to the Hindu Goddess Kali, then to Hindu Goddess Durga, to 'God' (presumably to the Christian god) and concludes with the Sikh salutation.

Click here to view all video reports that covered the event.

A part of this video was taken out of context and shared by the BJP officials as a recent event and falsely linked it to the commemoration event of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The viral clip is from 2018 and is from a Maati Utsav inauguration, which took place at Mati Tirtha in Bardhaman district.

Evidently, an edited version of an old speech of Mamata Banerjee, where she recites multi-faith prayers, was shared on social media with false claims to insinuate that she is opposed to a crowd chanting 'Jai Shree Ram'.