An order by the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government on July 19, mandating all eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of the owners, has attracted a large amount of criticism.
Amid the controversial order, a video is being widely shared on social media in which former Indian wrestler, The Great Khali, is seen eating mangoes at the shop of a Muslim vendor.
Those sharing the video claim that Khali is eating mangoes at a Muslim vendor’s shop to mark his disagreement against the contentious nameplate order of the UP government.
A social media user shared the video with the caption, “The Great Khali ate fruit at Muslim brother’s shop to protest against nameplate rules. (translated from Hindi)”
SouthCheck found that the claim was false. Khali's video was published on July 11 before the order was announced.
On doing a Google reverse image search, we found the same video uploaded on YouTube on July 13, 2024. The caption said that a video of Khali eating mangoes has gone viral.
We found that The Great Khali also uploaded the same video on his official Instagram page on July 11, 2024.
We further found that the Muzaffarnagar police released the notification for displaying the names of eatery owners on the Kanwar Yatra route on July 17, 2024. Further, the UP government also mandated the order on July 19.
We also found no news reports of Khali opposing or supporting the order.
Hence, we ascertain that the video of Khali eating mangoes at a shop of a Muslim owner was not about an order by the UP government.