Did Saudi Civic Authorities Clean Madinah Street After Smriti Irani’s Visit? No!

The streets near Al Masjid an Nabawi in Medina are cleaned and sanitised regularly.

Fact-check: A video with a misleading claim about Smriti Irani visiting Saudi Arabia has gone viral.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video is going viral on social media claiming that streets near Al Masjid an Nabawi in Madinah, Saudi Arabia were purportedly cleaned after Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani's visit.

Irani visited the city of Madinah during her two-day visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 8 January.

An archive can be seen here.

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: This claim is misleading.

• We found several other old videos to prove that the streets of Madinah are cleaned regularly and are unrelated to Irani's visit.

• We also didn't find any news reports to prove that the streets were cleaned after Irani's visit.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a relevant keyword search which led us to several videos of streets near the mosque being cleaned.

• These videos can be seen here, here and here.

• One of these videos on YouTube shared in 23 July 2019 shows how cleaners at Masjid al-Nabawi work tirelessly to keep the mosque and surrounding areas disinfected.

• The results also showed us a report shared by Arab News from 16 July 2013.

• It stated that around 3,200 workers are involved in cleaning the floors, carpets and courtyards at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.

• It adds, "The importance of cleaning the Holy Mosque premises increases in Ramadan, with the increasing number of worshippers during the holy month."

Moreover, we did not find any reports about the mosque premises being cleaned for or after Irani's visit.

Pictures shared by the mosque: The official X (formerly Twitter) account of General Authority for the Care of the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque have shared several images of cleaning practices at the mosque.

It can be seen here, here, here, here and here.

Conclusion: A video with a misleading claim about Smriti Irani visiting Saudi Arabia has gone viral.

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