FACT CHECK: No, UP CM Yogi Adityanath did not light firecrackers during Diwali
A video of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath lighting a firecracker at his residence is viral on social media. Users claim that he burst firecrackers
By Newsmeter Network Published on 22 Nov 2020 11:39 AM IST
Hyderabad: A video of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath lighting a firecracker at his residence is viral on social media. Users claim that he burst firecrackers during Diwali despite the ban in Uttar Pradesh.
This video is being circulated with another video of a child reacting to her father being arrested for selling firecrackers in Bulandshahr by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
Many netizens are calling the CM out for being a hypocrite and lighting crackers despite the ban.
Click here to view the archive and here and for similar claims.
FACT CHECK:
The video of Adityanath lighting a firecracker is 3 months old and is not related to the ban on firecrackers in Uttar Pradesh during Diwali.
According to reports by India TV, Business Standard, V6 News Telugu and ABP News, the news of a man being arrested in Bulandshahr is true (viral video). Police arrested firecracker sellers. A video of a girl crying and banging her head on the police jeep because her father was arrested is also viral on social media. The Uttar Pradesh government has taken action against the police officials for their 'inhumane' behavior.
However, the claim that Adityanath lit firecrackers during Diwali despite a ban in Uttar Pradesh is false.
It was noticed that the viral video had the ANI logo on it. Using this information, we performed a keyword search and found a tweet by ANI UP from August 2020 that carried the same video. It states that Adityanath lit a firecracker at his official residence in Lucknow as part of 'deepotsav', ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony of RamTemple in Ayodhya.
We also found a news report by Swarajya and Times Now from August 4, 2020, with the headline, "Ram Temple Bhoomi Poojan: UP CM Yogi Adityanath celebrates 'deepotsav', lights firecrackers ahead of the event."
The viral video shows Adityanath lighting firecrackers to celebrate 'deepotsav', ahead of the Bhoomi Pujan in Ayodhya in August. "Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lit firecrackers and celebrated 'Diwali' at his official residence in Lucknow as part of 'deepotsav' event ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday", read the report by Times Now.
Evidently, the video of Adityanath is being circulated with a false claim.
