A photograph showing Member of Parliament Supriya Sule and Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Jitendra Awhad with their hands raised in prayer is going viral across social media platforms.
The photo is being shared with the claim that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, led by Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray, started a new tradition of reciting verses from the Quran at the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan this year, as opposed to a Hindu prayer for Goddess Saraswati.
However, we found that the visuals were from a nikah (wedding) ceremony in Mumbai, where Sule and Awhad were in attendance. As the ceremony was Islamic, the two NCP leaders' hands were held up in accordance with customs.
CLAIM
The photograph is going viral with the following text in Hindi —
"यह महाराष्ट्र सरकार ने नई प्रथा शुरू की है पहले साहित्य सम्मेलन की शुरुआत सरस्वती वंदना से होती थी अब साहित्य सम्मेलन की शुरुआत कुरान की आयतें पढ़कर होती हैं"
(Translation: Maharashtra government has started a new tradition. Earlier, Sahitya Sammelan used to begin by praying to goddess Saraswati but now it begins with recital of Quranic verses)
An archived version of this tweet can be accessed here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We observed the photo carefully and were able to identify Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule as the lady dressed in yellow in the viral photo. Next, we ran a reverse image search on the photo, adding the MP's name to the search.
The results led us to Sule's verified Instagram account, where we came across a post of the leader wearing the same outfit, congratulating one Sameer Shamim Khan and his family.
The leader congratulated Khan.
(Source: Instagram/Screenshot)
We found the same post on Supriya Sule's Facebook page, where we also came across two 'LIVE' videos which were published on 4 December 2021.
45 seconds into the second video, we found the same frame of both Sule and Awhad, along with the rest of the attendees, bringing their hands together as a man spoke about blessing the newlyweds.
Both photos show the same people seated in the same order.
(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)
News18 Lokmat carried a detailed report on the Sammelan's opening ceremonies. None of the reports made any mention of verses from the Quran being recited in place of the Saraswati Vandana.
Clearly, a photograph of a nikah ceremony showing MP Supriya Sule and Maharashtra minister Jitendra Awhad is being shared to falsely claim that the Maharashtra government had started reciting verses from the Quran instead of the Saraswati Vandana at the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan.
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