Fact-Check: Rahul Gandhi Didn't Refuse to do Aarti, Claim Is False!

We found photos by news outlets showing Rahul Gandhi holding the aarti.

A video showing Congress leaders, namely Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and former Minister of State Bharat Solanki, at a festive pandal, is being widely shared on social media.

The claim states that that Gandhi refused to perform aarti, questioning his reasons for not participating in a Hindu ritual.

However, the claim is false, and this video is old. In the photographs shared by media outlets and Congress leaders, Gandhi is seen holding the aarti. The photos were shared on 27 September 2017, showing the leaders participating in the Navratri and garba celebrations in Rajkot, Gujarat.

CLAIM

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit shared the video on his verified Twitter account, writing in Hindi, what loosely translates to, "A sacred thread wearing Rahul Gandhi refusing to perform aarti! The reason why is clear!"

Similar posts on social media can be seen here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

Using InVID, a video verification extension on Google Chrome, we divided the viral video into keyframes and ran a reverse image search on some of them.

On Yandex, the results showed us a tweet, by Congress leader and former Minister of State (MoS) for Drinking Water and Sanitation Bharat Solanki, dated 27 September 2017.

Day ends with Aarti & blessings of Ambe Maa at Navratri Pandal, Neel City, Rajkot. pic.twitter.com/Kx7tar71Rw

— Bharat Solanki (@BharatSolankee) September 26, 2017

The photos shared showed Rahul Gandhi, Bharat Solanki, and Ashok Gehlot, and the caption mentioned ending their day with "Aarti & blessings of Ambe Maa at Navratri Pandal, Neel City, Rajkot (sic)."

We saw that the pictures shared on Solanki's verified account were from the same event as the viral video. Both Solanki's and Gandhi's outfits matched in both the photos.

In one of these photos, Gandhi can be seen holding the aarti in his hands.

Taking a cue from Solanki's tweet, we looked for more visuals from the event. This search led us to a tweet shared by Gehlot, which, too, carried similar pictures.

Took blessings of Ambe Maa at #Navratri Pandal, Neel City, Rajkot, yesterday... pic.twitter.com/FBpledskmy

— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) September 27, 2017

Rahul Gandhi, too, had shared photos from the event on his verified profile.

The day ends well with Garba in Rajkot pic.twitter.com/w1LnVAUG2S

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 26, 2017

We found similar visuals on news agency ANI's Twitter account too.

News reports from 2017 mentioned that Gandhi had visited Rajkot. It also said that he had visited five temples and performed aartis at two venues, in Rajkot and Jamnagar in a span of three days.

Clearly, an old video of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Bharat Solanki, and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at Navratri celebrations in Gujarat's Rajkot is being shared to claim that Gandhi refused to perform aarti.

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