An image of Priyanka Gandhi from her wedding day is being shared on social media with a false claim, that the wedding rituals of Priyanka and Robert Vadra were performed in Islamic fashion by a Maulvi.
The Quint found that the claim is absolutely baseless and the bearded person in the photograph is Pandit Iqbal Kishen Reu, a Kashmiri Pandit priest who also conducted the wedding rituals of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
THE CLAIM
The claim shared along with the aforementioned image being circulated, reads: “प्रियंका गांधी के निकाह में पधारे थे महान मौलवी । हिन्दू बोलकर हिन्दूओ का अपमान करते हैं । सबूत देख लो कायरो तुम्हें मूर्ख बनाने वाले मुस्लिम हैं।”
(Translation: Great Maulvi showed up at Priyanka Gandhi’s wedding. By calling themselves Hindu, they insult all Hindus. Here’s proof for all the cowards. These Muslims are fooling us.)
The image with the same false claim was shared on a Facebook group called ‘BJP Mission 400 for 2024’ and had over 700 likes and 600 shares at the time of writing this story.
WHAT WE FOUND
A Google search using the keywords “Priyanka Gandhi’s Wedding” helped us find this India Today article dated 28 February 1997. The article mentioned that “Priyanka will be wearing the same pale pink sari that Indira wore at her wedding, and the same priest that married her grandmother will grace this occasion too.”
Another feature on Priyanka, authored by Journalist Rashid Kidwai for news website DailyO, mentioned that Iqbal Kishan Reu, the Gandhis’ family priest, performed the rites.
Next, we reached out to a Congress spokesperson who helped us source images from the wedding.
Pandit Iqbal Kishen Reu was employed in the railways and had a thorough knowledge of Kashmiri Karm Kand. He was a practising Kul Purohit and after performing the marriage of Priyanka with Robert, according to Kashmiri Pandit traditions, he left this job.
Evidently, an image of a Kashmiri Pandit performing the wedding rites of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is being shared on social media with a false claim.
The Gandhi family has often been the target of fake news on grounds on religion. The Quint has earlier debunked claims stating that Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi offered namaz at Indira Gandhi’s funeral. In another false claim, several users on social media stated that Rahul offered namaz at a Shiv Temple in MP. You can read our fact-check here.
(This story was first debunked by Alt News.)
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