RT India, the Indian unit of Russian state managed information media, shared a video a gaggle of males forming a human pyramid to dismantle an idol of goddess Kali as a part of custom in West Bengal, with a false declare {that a} Hindu temple was attacked by an offended mob in Bangladesh.
BOOM discovered that the video is from Purba (East) Bardhaman district in West Bengal and the visuals captured within the video are usually not communal in nature.
A member of the Sultanpur Puja Committee in Purba Bardhaman clarified that the idol was dismantled as a part of a convention, on November 26, 2024.
The video exhibits males dismantling the pinnacle of a Kali idol as others within the background instruct methods to do it rigorously.
Russian outlet RT India shared the video from its official X deal with and wrote, “Hindu Temple Attacked in Bangladesh – Footage Claims to Show Mob Vandalising & Destroying Statue of Deity”. The X put up has since been deleted after customers known as out the tweet.
Click right here to view the put up and right here for an archive.
Pro-Hindutva outlet Sudarshan News, posted the identical video claiming that extremists in Bangladesh attacked a Hindu temple and destroyed an idol of Kali.
Click right here to view the put up and right here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a key phrase search in Bengali and located an article revealed by Dainik Statesman on October 21, 2024. The report featured {a photograph} of an idol of goddess Kali with a background just like the one seen within the viral video.
The article acknowledged that the 600-year-old Kali Puja takes place in Sultanpur village within the Khandghosh block of Purba Bardhaman.
According to the report, the village’s blacksmith neighborhood initiated the puja however later handed over the duty to the village’s Mondal household. A committee has been shaped with the individuals from the village and all households within the village partake within the puja and assist perform the rituals.
It additional acknowledged {that a} 12-ft Kali idol is frequently worshipped within the temple and the idol is immersed after each 12 years. This yr, as per custom, the idol can be immersed. The puja will then resume with a newly constructed idol, and the subsequent immersion will happen after 12 years, in keeping with the article.
A key phrase search in Bengali in regards to the Kali Puja in Sultanpur led us to a Facebook put up that includes the same video from the identical incident.
Click right here to view the put up and right here for an archive.
Mondal household follows 600-year-old custom
BOOM then reached out to Debashish Mondal, a member of the Sultanpur Kali Puja committee. We despatched him the viral video on WhatsApp. Mondal confirmed that the video exhibits their Kali idol immersion as per custom, which occurred on November 26, 2024, and refuted any communal angle to the incident.
Mandal instructed BOOM, “Our Kali Puja is just a few hundred years outdated. The idol is immersed on this method after each 12 years. As the Kali idol is tall and can’t be taken out for immersion in a single piece, we dismantle it. However, earlier than dismantling the idol, its ‘pranapratistha’ is carried out at a separate location.”
He additional defined, “in keeping with legend, the goddess appeared in a dream and instructed the villagers to dismantle the idol in the same approach. The ‘pranapratistha’ is completed in an earthen pot (ghot) earlier than dismantling and later, the idol is immersed within the pond beside the temple.”
Mondal additionally dismissed any communal angle to the incident. “This puja is carried out by everybody in Sultanpur village. It has nothing to do with temple vandalism.”
(This story was initially revealed by Boom, and republished by NDTV as a part of the Shakti Collective)