Fact Check: No, "Ishwar Allah" in bhajan 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' not replaced by "Jai Shri Ram"
The video is from 4 October 2021 and according to the title, the singer performed the song during the 152nd birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi
By Newsmeter Network Published on 10 Oct 2021 12:41 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Social media users are sharing a video of the singer and BJP Lok Sabha MP Hans Raj singing 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram'. It is being claimed that the lines "Ishwar Allah" and "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram" have been replaced with "Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram" by the Narendra Modi government.
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Fact Check:
NewsMeter found that the claim false.
We performed a keyword search and found the complete version of the video on the YouTube channel Hans Raj Hans live. The video is from 4 October 2021 and according to the title, the singer performed the song during the 152nd birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Around the 1:52-2 minute mark, we can hear Hans Raj Hans singing "Jai Shree Ram" around four times which is not part of the bhajan. However, between the 2:38 and 3:18 minute mark, he also sings the line "Ishwar Allah Tero Nam, Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan".
The same video was uploaded on the official YouTube channel of PMO Modi on 2 October.
According to First Post, the lyrics of 'Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram' were taken from Shri Nama Ramayanam written by Lakshmanacharya and modified by Gandhi. The line "Ishwar Allah Tero Naam, Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan" was added by Gandhi as part of this modification.
Gandhi's version of bhajan can be viewed here.
If the lyrics of the bhajan had been changed by the BJP Lok Sabha MP, it would have been reported by mainstream media. However, we did not find any such reports. Hence, the claim that Hans Raj replaced the word "Ishwar Allah Tero Naam'" in the bhajan with "Jai Shri Ram" is false.
