Amid the ongoing Madhya Pradesh elections, three videos of senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh, have been clubbed together and shared on social media.
What is Digvijaya Singh saying?:
CLIP 1: "We do not consider Hindutva as a religion. The idea in Hindutva is that whoever does not listen to them, they demolish houses, beat people with sticks, rob them of their money." (translated from Hindi to English.)
CLIP 2: "People wearing saffron clothes are raping. Rapes are taking place in temples." (translated from Hindi to English.)
CLIP 3: "I am a person who follows Sanatana Dharma. I am a good Hindu and Ram is our god." (translated from Hindi to English.)
What is the claim?: Those sharing have written that those who did not consider Hindutva as a religion have now raised the slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram' because of the elections.
(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)
Is it true?: No, Digvijaya Singh's statements from the past have been edited and are being shared without the proper context.
How did we find out?: We found the longer versions of all three clips by doing a relevant keyword search.
CLIP 1: In a nine-minute-long video posted by News24 on their YouTube channel on 16 May, Singh can be heard replying to a reporter during a press conference in Jabalpur in MP.
7:33 minutes onwards, he said, "Look, this is our Sanatana religion. We do not consider Hindutva as a religion. The slogan in the institution of Sanatana Dharma is, Dharm ki jai ho, Adharm ka nash ho, Praniyo mein Sadbhavna ho aur Vishwa ka kalyan ho."
Further he added, "This is not in Hindutva. In Hindutva, whoever does not listen to them, they demolish houses, beat people with sticks, and rob them of their money."
CLIP 2: This clip dates back to 17 September 2019 when Singh along with then MP CM Kamal Nath to attended the Sant Samagam organised in Bhopal.
Quint Hindi reported on 17 September 2019 when Singh said, "A person becomes a sage by leaving their family and moves towards following the religion. But today, people are selling 'powder' while dressed in saffron."
He added, "Saffron-clad people are indulging in rapes. Rapes are happening inside temples. Is this our religion? Even God will not forgive those who have defamed our Sanatana Dharma."
The report also mentioned that the remarks had come at a time when a student had alleged rape allegations against former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand.
Dainik Jagran reported on 19 September 2019 that a case against Digvijaya Singh was registered in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh under "various sections including disturbing social harmony and spreading hatred in the name of religion."
CLIP 3: This clip is from 29 October and was taken during a press conference in Bhopal.
In a longer version of the video posted by Aaj Tak on their YouTube channel, he said, "I am a person who follows Sanatana Dharma. I am a true Hindu, and Ram is our god."
He added, "But, the use of religion in elections is prohibited. As for the construction of Ram Mandir, Shivraj Singh Chouhan donated 1 lakh whereas I donated 1.11 lakh."
Furthermore, Digvijaya Singh stated that he had even sent the check to the Prime Minister for him to deposit it in the trust. However, the Prime Minister returned the check and requested Singh to deposit the checks himself.
News18 also published a report about this statement on 29 October.
In none of the speeches has Digvijaya Singh spoken against Sanatana Dharma. He has spoken against the Hindutva ideology.
Conclusion: While Congress's Digvijaya Singh has made these remarks, social media users have shared them without providing the full context.
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