A video of Hindu shlokas being chanted at the White House is being circulated with the claim that it shows the welcoming of US President-elect Joe Biden on his “first day” at work.
However, we found that the video is from the 2014 conference organised by Hindu American Seva Communities to mark the 145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
CLAIM
The claim along with the video reads: “White House first day before entering the New American PRESIDENT, How they perform Indian Slocas invocking Almighty of the UNIVERS for the GOOD happening of the Countrymen. (sic)”
Several social media users shared the video on Twitter and Facebook with the same claim.
WHAT WE FOUND
We ran a keyword search on YouTube and found a video uploaded by an organisation called Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC) in 2014. The description of the video reads: “This video is about Vedic Chanting White House”
While this 04:19-minute-long video has been shot from a different angle as compared to the viral video, however, we could match several frames that shows that the viral video is from the same event.
In the comparison below, one can see the same duo on the stage, similar placement of chair and stool and woman standing with a green notebook.
Under the ‘press releases’ section on the website of HASC, we found a statement issued on 5 October 2014 which mentioned that the ‘Fourth Annual White House Seva Conference’ took place on 2 October 2014 to mark the 145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
“The Erhard Family of Colorado began the conference with an invocation of prayers appreciated by Mahatma Gandhi,” the statement added.
It is noteworthy that the beginning of the YouTube video uploaded by HASC mentions the names: Jeffrey Erhard and Robbie Erhard.
Further, we found that the viral video was also uploaded by Radio Jockey Giridhar Talla on his verified Facebook account in 2014 with a caption that corroborated the aforementioned details.
It is also pertinent to note that US President-elect Joe Biden is yet to assume office and the official swearing-in ceremony is yet to take place.
Evidently, an old video of an event organised by Hindu American Seva Communities has been revived to falsely claim that it is a recent video and shows Hindu shlokas being chanted for Joe Biden.
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