A video showing a massive crowd chanting ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ on the streets is going viral on social media to claim that it shows “seven lakh American citizens converting into Hinduism.
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(Source: X/Screenshot)
How did we find out the truth?: We couldn't find any credible reports about several people from the USA converting into Hindu religion.
Next, we noticed the video frame by frame and found the flag of United Kingdom in the background.
We also noticed a religious chariot in the middle of the road.
We noticed the flag of United Kingdom in the background.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
Taking a cue, we performed a reverse image search along with some relevant keywords and found several old videos from 2022 of Rathayatra in London.
These videos were uploaded in September 2022.
We also compared the viral video with the YouTube videos and found similarities.
The video is from 2022.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
We found the street name as Haymarket and Cockspur Street in the YouTube video and decided to look it up on Google maps.
We were able to geolocate the exact location where the procession took place.
The street view also shows the UK flag hoisted at Haymarket Hotel, London.
We have also reached out to ISKCON London and got a confirmation from them that the video was indeed from London's Rathayatra celebrations.
Conclusion: An old video showing London Rathayatra is going viral to falsely claim that around seven lakh Americans converted into Hindu religion.
(Editor's Note: The copy has been updated to include Isckon London's statement.)
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