Video of Durga Puja Pandal From Kolkata Falsely Shared Ram Temple From Ayodhya

This video shows the Santosh Mitra Square 'Pandal' in Kolkata.

Fact-Check: This video does not show the Ram temple in Ayodhya, it is a Durga puja pandal from Kolkata. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a huge crowd at a place of worship is going viral on social media where the users are claiming that it shows the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.

An archive of the post can be found here, 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is it true?: No, this claim is false.

• It shows this year’s Santosh Mitra Square Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata, West Bengal.

• The Ram Temple in Ayodhya is yet to be opened to the public.

How did we find out?: We divided the viral video into multiple keyframes and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• We came across a similar video on Facebook on a profile of one Tapan Mistry from 17 October 2023.

• Mistry shared a set of seven photos and videos and added it to their 'Durga Puja 2023 album.'

• The post was shared with a caption, ‘Santosh Mitra Square, Ram Temple’ with the location tagged as Kolkata.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

• We have reached out to the user for further clarification and the story will be updated when we receive a response.

We geo-located the pandal: We searched for this location on Google Maps and came across a few similar images.

• We compared it with a keyframe in the viral video and found similarities.

Here are the similarities between the two.

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

• With a relevant keyword search, we came across some news reports about this particular pandal.

• The Hindustan Times noted that the theme of the pandal was the Ram temple.

• It added that Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated this pandal.

• We have reached out to the Santosh Mitra Square association, who organised this pandal, for their inputs and the story will be updated when the response comes.

Ram Temple Updates: The Ram Temple is set to open its gates on 22 January 2024.

• A ‘Pran Pratishtha’ (consecration) ceremony will be held where 4,000 saints of all sects will be present.

• According to a report shared by The Hindu on 16 December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in attendance at the inauguration.

Conclusion: Clearly, this video does not show the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. It actually shows a Durga puja pandal from Kolkata. 

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