CLAIM
A video of a few idols on the pavement alongside a long riverside road is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows Ganesh idols left disrespectfully on the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad.
The video has been shared my multiple people, criticising those responsible for having allegedly left Ganpati idols on the road, questioning their action and their faith. The context is the ongoing Ganpati festival and the visarjan.
One of the captions with the video being shared is: “It’s riverfront of Ahmedabad they were not allowed to pollute the river so they left ganpati idol on footpath what type of faith this?”
The video has been shared by multiple users on Twitter, including Delhi AAP MLA Alka Lamba and journalist Zainab Sikander.
The video is also viral on Facebook.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
While the video is actually of the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad, the claim with which it is being shared is false. The video does not show Ganpati idols left on the footpath by people during Ganpati visarjan.
WHAT WE FOUND
Firstly, on looking closely at the video, The Quint saw that the idols were not actually of Ganpati but of a goddess.
Secondly, we came across some comments on Twitter which said that the video didn’t show Ganpati visarjan but actually the visarjan of Dashama, which had allegedly taken place a month ago. Taking this as possible hint, we searched Twitter for any references using the key words ‘Dashama Ahmedabad’.
Upon doing so, we came across some similar photos from August, which seemed to show the same idols as the ones at the riverfront. The photos claimed to show Dashama visarjan, and the idols had been left on the banks instead of being immersed in the river to prevent pollution.
On searching for this photo, we came across the caption for it on Reuters, which read: “A woman carries an idol of Hindu goddess Dashama, left by devotees on the banks of the river Sabarmati a day after the "Dashama" festival in Ahmedabad, India, August 11, 2019.”
IPS officer from Ahmedabad Vipul Aggarwal had also tweeted a photo of a scene similar to the one in the video on 11 August, praising citizens of Ahmedabad for leaving the idols on the banks and helping the authorities in the Swachh Sabarmati drive.
All this confirmed that such an event had actually taken place.
On searching further, we came across a tweet by Vijay Nehra, and IAS officer and the Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Photos and a video uploaded by him showed similar scenes too.
His tweet explained that this was something the authorities had asked to be done in order to keep Ahmedabad’s river clean. He has also retweeted his tweet to give context to of the other claims with which the video is being shared.
Nehra has also retweeted a thread by another Twitter user by the name of Nirnay Kapoor, an Ahmedabad-based journalist, who shared the same video but with the reality, clarifying that it was a month old.
This thread explains that the people had not thrown the idols there but left them at the riverfront at the behest of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. According to his tweets, they were later lifted and disposed off by the Corporation.
Therefore, it is clear that the video is actually old and shows Dashama visarjan carried out according to city rules and is being shared with the fake claim that it shows Ganpati visarjan and idols thrown around disrespectfully.
(With inputs from SM Hoaxslayer)
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