A photo of people praying in the presence of a Muslim cleric, with photographs of Congress leaders Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi seen in the background, is being shared to claim that it shows the inauguration of the Karnataka Youth Congress' office in Bengaluru.
The photo is being shared to insinuate that only Islamic prayers were performed ahead of the office's inauguration, taking a dig at secularity in the Congress party.
But we found that the claim is misleading. Visuals from the event show that Hindu, Christian and Islamic rituals were carried out as the state's new Youth Congress President Mohammed Haris Nalapad was inducted into office.
CLAIM
The photo is being shared as one from the inauguration of the Karnataka Youth Congress' office in Bengaluru, Karnataka to insinuate that only Islamic customs were followed.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We went through the Karnataka Youth Congress' social media pages for more context behind the photograph.
On their verified Facebook account, we saw a post noting the induction of the new Youth Congress President Mohammed Haris Nalapad.
The post mentioned that prayers were carried out in the youth wing's office at Congress Bhavan, in the presence of Shantinagar MLA NA Haris and other senior Congress leaders.
The photo shared showed a section of the image from the claim, as well as a photo of a Hindu ritual being conducted.
The post led us to the profiles of the new President as well as MLA Haris. On Mohammed Haris Nalapad's profile, we came across a post shared on the same day, which showed multiple photos of a Hindu ceremony, along with other photos.
(Note: Swipe right to view all three photos)
Nalapad shared three photos of Hindu rituals.
(Source: Facebook/MohammedHaris Nalapad)
Further, we found live videos of the Hindu ritual on NA Haris' Facebook page. None of the photos and posts shared by these handles remarked on the inauguration of a new office.
We found the visuals of the Hindu and Islamic rituals on the verified YouTube page of NewsFirst Kannada.
We also came across a news report by The New Indian Express noting that rituals were carried out as per Hindu, Christian as well as Islamic customs during the event.
Clearly, the claim that a new Youth Congress office was inaugurated following Islamic customs is false.
The photograph shows Mohammed Haris Nalapad taking charge as the state's Youth Congress President at an event which offered prayers in accordance with Hindu, Islamic and Christian customs.
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