A video of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk making ‘controversial’ remarks about Lord Ram and Goddess Sita is going viral on the internet.
What did Wangchuk say?: The 14 seconds-long clip shows him saying, "I see it this way, they turned out to be such a Ram who rescued Sita from Ravana. But they did not take her home, they left her to be sold in an open market."
An archive of the post can be found here.
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We received multiple queries about the viral video on our WhatsApp tipline. More archives of similar claims can be viewed here, here, and here.
What's the problem with the claim?: While Wangchuk did make the controversial statements, the video lacks proper context.
He was referring to the promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the people of Ladakh and how promises those have not been fulfilled.
How did we find that out?: We performed a keyword search on Google and found a longer version of the interview published on the official YouTube handle of NDTV India.
The video was shared on 19 March and was its title when translated to English said, "Sonam Wangchuck To NDTV: BJP won hearts in 2019 but now it has broken them... | NDTV EXCLUSIVE."
The interview showed Wangchuk talking about his fast in Ladakh and highlighted the demands of the people in the region.
At around the 6:00 timestamp, the anchor could be heard asking about the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jammu and Kashmir. She asked Wangchuk's thoughts about BJP winning hearts of people in Ladakh.
Answering this, he said, "They had completely won the hearts of people in Ladakh in 2019. I had never seen people in Ladakh so happy after the region was declared as a Union Territory."
This is where Wangchuk reads a Hindi idiom, whose English translation can be "People in Ladakh feel like they were saved from the frying pan but were put into the fire."
"I see it this way that they turned out to be such a Ram, who saved Sita from Ravana but did not take her home. Instead, they left her to be sold in the market. They have left the region open to business and mining activities without any protect. These things happened after they [BJP] made promises. Had they not made these promises, we would have only complained. Now there is anger."Sonam Wangchuk, climate activist
What is the fast about?: The activist is on a 21-day fast unto death in Ladakh, where he has put forth several demands including statehood and protection for the region and implementation of the sixth schedule of the Constitution. You can watch the video below for more details.
Conclusion: This video of Sonam Wangchuk's interview lacks proper context.
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