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Mass Conservation Event To Buddhism Wasn't Held At Jaipur; Viral Claim Is False!
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Rajasthan, 20 Oct 2022 10:24 AM GMT | Updated 21 Oct 2022 9:39 AM GMT
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Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Images of a crowd gathered at an event have gone viral across social media with the claim that it shows 1 lakh people mass converting to Buddhism in Jaipur.
Images of a crowd gathered at an event have gone viral across social media with the claim that it shows people mass converting to Buddhism.
The image is going viral in the context of the resignation of Rajendra Pal Gautam, the Delhi government's former social welfare minister following his involvement in a conversion event. On October 5, hundreds of Dalits in Delhi-NCR converted to Buddhism as a part of an event organized by the Jai Bheem Mission. BJP leaders had claimed that anti-Hindu statements were made at the event.
Claim:
The two images show a large crowd gathered in an open area lit with halogen lights. The caption of the post reads, "Yesterday on 16/10/2022, in Jaipur, 1 lakh brothers have adopted the Buddhist faith."
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The images circulated are not from a mass conversion event in Jaipur but rather a religious gathering of Buddhists in Pune on 15 October 2022.
It is to be noteworthy that if the such mass conversion had happened, then the mainstream media which have been vocal about the conversion issue and surely have reported it. However, we did not find any report which can verify the viral claim.
We then conducted a reverse image search on the viral image and came across a post on Facebook. The caption of the post reads in English, "Grand Dhamma Sabha organized by Indian Buddhist Mahasabha, Pimpri Chinchwad on the occasion of 66th Dhammachakra Enforcement Day Millions of people, their only leader".
Taking a hint from it, we came across a tweet dated 15 October 2022 in which similar image can be seen. As per this post, the images show 'Dhamma Mela' organized by Indian Buddhist Mahasabha. The event was organized on the occasion of 66th Dhamma chakra Pravartan Day that occurred on 15 October 2022 at Pimpri-chinchwad near Pune, Maharashtra.
Adv. Priyadarshi Telang, an independent researcher and human rights advocate, had also shared photos of Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din Celebration on his official Twitter account.
We then compared the viral image with the image image on Twitter. Below you can see the comparison.
As per the articles in DNA and News18, Dhammachakra Pravartan Din is observed on Ashoka Vijayadashami every year to mark the day B.R Ambedkar along with his followers converted to Buddhism on 14 October 1956 at Nagpur. Many people convert to Buddhism at such events but no mass conversion event occurred in Jaipur recently.
We also came across a local report which reported event. According to the report, the grandson of BR Ambedkar, Prakash Ambedkar was the key speaker of this event. He lashed out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat during this event and asked Bhagwat to apologize for the mistakes of his ancestors. Nowhere, the report mentioned about the religious conversion.
Conclusion:
We found that the images circulated are not from a mass conversion event in Jaipur but rather a religious gathering of Buddhists in Pune on 15 October 2022. The event took place on the occasion of 66th Dhamma chakra Pravartan Day organized in Pune. Thus, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: Was A Temple Destroyed In Guntur To Build A Mosque? No, Viral Claim Is False!
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