Fact Check: Was the Lucknow School Play “Bharat Mata” Made to Provide Namaz? Clip shared out of context
As India celebrates its 76th Independence Day on August 15, a video of the school’s students performing in a play has been widely shared on social media.
The video shows a girl wearing a sari and crown surrounded by boys and girls wearing skull caps and headscarves. As the video continues, students wearing skull caps remove the crown from the head of the girl who is said to be dressed as “Bharat Mata”. They are then seen wearing a scarf over her head and they all start offering namaz.
The people who shared the video confirmed the video was from Shishu Bharti Vidyalay in Malviya Nagar, Aishbagh, Lucknow. They also demanded strict action against the school for depicting such a scene in a children’s play.
Bharatiya Party leader Janata Abhijat Mishra shared this video, tagging Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking his attention on the matter. He has since deleted his tweets.
Archived versions of posts can be seen here.
AFWA’s investigation found that the viral video was garbled out of context to give it a fake and public look.
AFWA probe
When we searched online, we found a two minute 20 second video of the same play shot from a different angle. Arvind Chauhan, a journalist for Times of India, shared this video.
This is a full video of students praying in different ways (according to religions)#Lucknow https://t.co/OS99RE0ie8 pic.twitter.com/DISHq9GB4m
– Arvind Chauhan (Stupid Soul |) (@Arv_Ind_Chauhan) August 15, 2022
This video clearly shows how the play features different groups of students representing different religious groups praying according to Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian customs, along with the girl in a sari. It doesn’t just show the students taking off their crowns and making the girl in the sari suggest namaz.
Subsequent searches led us to a tweet by the Lucknow Police Commission on August 15 confirming that the viral video had been trimmed from the original scene to give it a general spin. It added that action is being taken against those who shared the clipped video.
@Uppolice pic.twitter.com/t8a6Ws5B6b
– LUCKY COMMUNICATION POLICE (@lkopolice) August 15, 2022
The AWFA contacted Sunil Sharma, an additional CP on the Lucknow Police Commission. He said, “After investigation, we discovered that on the occasion of Independence Day, the play was staged by children, where prayers of all religions were performed. But someone had share the clipped video on social media. We are aware of the issue and action will be taken.”
So it can be concluded that a viral video from Lucknow’s school was shared with misleading and community-based content.
(With input from Sanjana Saxena and Satyam Mishra)
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RequestLucknow’s Shishu Bharti Vidyalaya staged a play in which students took off their crowns from ‘Bharat Mata’ and asked her to suggest namaz.InferenceThis is a clipped video. The original video shows the same girl praying according to Hindu, Sikh and Christian religious customs.
JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE
The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.
- 1 crow: Half right
- 2 crows: Mostly lies
- 3 Crows: Totally wrong
