No, this video does not show Pongal celebration at UK PM Rishi Sunak’s office

A video of people enjoying a feast on banana leaves in traditional Indian style is being widely shared on the Internet.

Social Media users have shared the video claiming that it shows the staff of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office celebrating Pongal.

A Twitter handle shared the video and wrote, “Viral Video of UK defence & PM's office staff celebrating Pongal/Makar Sankranti festival. A welcome change.”

Click here to see the post.

The Indian Express, India Today, Money Control, and Free Press Journal — using the still from the viral video also reported that UK PM Rishi Sunak hosted a traditional feast for office staff on the occasion of Pongal.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the feast was hosted by the Tamil-Canadian community in Waterloo, Canada.

On performing a reverse image search of the video, we found it posted by the Facebook account Tamil Culture Waterloo Region on 15 January. As per the caption, the video shows the Tamil Thai Pongal celebration which was attended by Waterloo politicians, Regional Chair City Mayors, Police Chief, and councillors.

Berry Vrbanovic, Mayor of Kitchener, tweeted several photos on 16 January and said that he had a wonderful time with community leaders and the local Tamil-Canadian community while celebrating Thai Pongal.

Kitchener is one of three cities that make up the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.

In another tweet, Mr. Vrbanovic also tweeted a photo of him enjoying the feast.

Finally, we compared the photo of Vrbanovic enjoying the feast with one of the stills from the viral video and found viral video also shows Mr. Vrbanovic enjoying the feast.

The viral video is not of Rishi Sunak’s office enjoying the feast and celebrating Pongal. Hence, we conclude that the claim is misleading.