Fact Check: Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and heads of other nations were not invited to Ayodhya’s Ram Temple inauguration

The inauguration of the much-awaited grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya took place on January 22, 2014. The ‘pran pratistha’ (consecration ceremony) of Ram Lalla was held in the presence of prime minister Narendra Modi. Around 7,000 distinguished guests, including prominent politicians, sportspersons, film stars, and industrialists were invited to the ceremony.

The viral video featured US president Joe Biden, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau with his son Xavier, UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese with his partner Jodie Haydon, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accompanied by his wife, the first lady of Turkiye Emine Erdogan, Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accompanied by his wife Rosângela da Silva, Chinese premier Li Qiang and Egypt president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

“Ram Mandir Ayodhya welcome to Guest Presidency on 22 January 2024 country Respect (sic),” wrote an Instagram user who shared the video.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The video shows leaders of respective countries arriving in New Delhi to attend the G-20 summit held on September 9-10, 2023.

We searched for the list of guests invited to the Ram Temple inauguration and came across a report by NDTV. According to the report, about 7,000 distinguished persons, including prominent politicians, the chief justice, ISRO scientists, sportspersons, film stars, industrialists and several others were invited to the ceremony. However, we did not find the mention of any heads of foreign nations or dignitaries in the guest list.

Upon a reverse image search of the frame of Biden deboarding the flight, we found an extended version of his clip, where he is wearing the same suit and tie, published by India Today on September 8, 2023. The caption stated that Biden landed in Delhi to attend the G-20 summit.

Similarly, we ran a relevant keyword search for other world political leaders attending the G-20 summit and came across a report by Wion from September 9, 2023. It carried pictures of the several leaders attending the G20 summit. It carried identical pictures of Trudeau with his son and Abdel Fattah El-Sisi coming out of their respective planes as in the viral video.

A report by India Today from September 8 carried the picture of Rishi Sunak accompanied by his wife Akshata Murty, coming out of the plane in the same dress as seen in the viral video. “Rishi Sunak landed in Delhi on Friday for the G-20 Leaders’ Summit, read the picture’s description.

Upon reverse image search of the keyframe showing UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, we found the extended version of the clip published by ANI on September 8, 2023, stating in the caption that Sheikh had arrived in Delhi for the G-20 Summit.

Photo stock website Shutterstock carried the picture of Anthony Albanese with his partner Jodie Haydon deboarding the fight in the same dress as in the viral video. The caption stated that the Australian PM had come to Delhi to attend the G-20 summit.

ANI and DD News published the videos of Turkish president Erdogan and Brazil president Silva arriving in Delhi for the G-20 summit. The video showed both leaders accompanied by their spouses in the same attire as in the viral video.

On performing a reverse image search of one of the keyframes, we found a similar picture carried by The Print. It said Chinese premier Li Qiang had arrived in Delhi to attend the G-20 summit in the absence of president Xi Jinping.

Hence, we conclude that the viral video shows leaders of different countries arriving to attend the G-20 summit in Delhi held in September 2023, not the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The claim is misleading.