Fact Check: Did BJP government build 'Statue of Equality' near Asaduddin Owaisi's house?
Neither did the reports nor did the website mention that the statue of equality is being built by the BJP government near AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi's house.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 9 Jan 2022 10:32 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A post related to the upcoming Statue of Equality is viral on social media.
Users claim the BJP government has built the world's tallest Hindu statue next to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi's house.
This news was first shared by NIO Times on January 04, 2022, on their Facebook page. The post had over 100k + likes and around 28k shares.
This news was later uploaded on the YouTube channel of 'NIO Times' on January 07, 2022, with the title, `Modi got the world's tallest Hindu saint's statue built next to Owaisi's house'. However, now the video clip has been removed by NIO Times.
Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter began its investigation by performing a keyword search, which led us to a report published by Deccan Chronicle on September 21, 2021, titled 'PM Modi to unveil Hyderabad's Statue of Equality.
According to the report, spiritual leader Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamy had addressed a press conference stating that the statue of Ramanujucharya will be unveiled in a grand ceremony to be held from February 2 to 12.
The report had further stated that when the seer met Prime Minister on September 18, he had invited Modi to unveil the statue. He also stated that PM had assured that he will be attending the event and all the arrangements for his visit on February 05, 2022, are being made.
"To promote equality in the world and to revive the ideology of Ramanujacharya, a 216-feet tall statue of equality (statue of Ramanujacharya) will be unveiled on February 5, 2022, at Shamshabad. The statue is being installed as part of the 1,000th birth anniversary celebrations of the acharya. PM Narendra Modi will unveil the statue, while President of India Ram Nath Kovind will participate in a program on February 14. Sri Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swami, who is in Delhi, met the President on Monday and invited him to the event.
Earlier, he had invited Modi. Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, CJI NV Ramana and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, and CMs of various states will be at the event," The Times of India reported on September 21, 2021.
On further investigation, we found a tweet by Sukhpreet Kaur, All India General Secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha on September 22, 2021. She had shared the report by Deccan Chronicle with a caption, "Honouring Bhagavad Ramanujacharya's belief that God exists in everyone & his fight against caste discrimination, Hon. PM Shri @narendramodi Ji will unveil the 'Statue of Equality', the 2nd tallest seated position statue in the world."
We further found a tweet by the Social Media Convenor of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Dinesh Chowdary on January 07, 2022.
He had shared the screenshot of the post by NIO Times which stated 'Modi got the world's tallest Hindu saint's statue built next to Owaisi's house'. Along with the screenshot, he tweeted: "Sri Ramanuja statue is being built in Mucchinthala of #Telangana by Sri Chinajeeyar Swamy. Modi is an invited Guest, so stop trying to claim credit & communalizing it."
Our team then visited the official website of the Statue of Equality. "The Foundation stone for Statue of Equality was laid on 2nd May 2014 by HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya. HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji, Dr. Rameswar Rao Garu, and the rest of the Sahasrabdi team went to China at the end of October 2015 to review the deity model scaling 1/10th of the original, 16.3 feet idol created by them. The team gave feedback to the manufacturers. Later, the architect team did digital corrections and sent the image to China for creating a 1:1 statue. In this process, HH Swamiji even showed how the Yathi's (monk's) sacred thread should be showing His own for correct representation on the statue," read the brief on the website.
The team lastly tried to contact Chinna Jeeyar Swamy. However, since he was busy with the arrangements, he was not able to talk.
It is therefore evident that the viral claim is False. Prime Minister has been invited to unveil the statue of equality in February. Neither did the reports nor did the website mention that the statue of equality is being built by the BJP government near AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi's house. The statue is being built at Srirama Nagaram JIVA Campus, Shamshabad.
