Is Boris Johnson doing a ‘Ram abhishek’ to mark bhoomi pujan? This photo isn’t what it seems

A photo of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson performing a Hindu ritual along with Home Secretary Priti Patel surfaced Friday evening, claiming it was shot on 5 August.

This photo of UK PM Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel was posted to Twitter on 7 August | Facebook

New Delhi: An image of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, purportedly doing a Ram abhishek, which literally means a coronation ceremony for Lord Ram, has been doing the rounds on social media.

Claiming to have been shot on 5 August, the day the foundation stone for the Ram Mandir was laid in Ayodhya, the image shows Johnson and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel pouring water over a statue.

It was posted on Twitter Friday evening with this message: “I’m a big fan of Indian Culture So I Did “SHRI RAM ABHISHEK” With Our Home minister at my Residence On 5th of August.”

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I'm a big fan of Indian Culture So I Did "SHRI RAM ABHISHEK" With Our Home minister at my Residence On 5th of August. pic.twitter.com/fYlfzpZNnl

— Boris Johnson (@BorisUKJohnson) August 7, 2020

The tweet has so far garnered about 11,000 retweets and 47,000 likes. It also drew more than a thousand comments, many of them praising the UK prime minister for showing solidarity with India and Hinduism. Some even mistakenly referred to the woman as Mrs Johnson. And then there were several that claimed the the tweet was a fake.

Fact check

The image, it turns out, isn’t from earlier this week but in fact from about a year ago. The Twitter handle that posted the photo claims to be the unofficial account of the UK prime minister. This is also fake.

The photo was actually taken from an event attended by PM Johnson on 8 December 2019 when he visited a temple at Neasden in north-west London. The woman in the photo is indeed Priti Patel, the Indian-origin UK politician. The image was posted to Johnson’s official Facebook page.

Along with the post was a statement of Johnson praising the Hindu community.

“This temple is one of the greatest gifts to our country. It is brought to life by the amazing community spirit that inhabits it. You are giving back to our society through the great charitable work that you do. London and the UK are lucky to have you.”

In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer.