A video of what seems like a public performance by children has gone viral. In the video, children come onto the stage, remove a crown from a girl wearing a sari and make her offer namaz.
Those sharing the video claim that the video is from Delhi where the girl acting as Bharat Mata was insulted by children portraying as Muslims.
A Threads user shared the video and wrote, “This is happening in Delhi government schools!! Kalma is being taught by removing the crown from the head of Mother India and by keeping a white cloth on her. This is the Kejriwal model of Delhi schools, spread it as much as you can.” (Translated from English.)
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The video is from a Lucknow school about a drama on communal harmony. The extended video showed students from other religions too.
On a Google reverse image search, we found the same video uploaded by an X user on August 15, 2022. In the caption, the user mentioned the location of the video as Shishu Bharathi Vidyalaya Malavika Nagar, Aishbagh in Lucknow.
We found similar videos of the children’s play in another X account where the girl in the sari seemed to play the role of ‘Mother India’. Scanning through the comments, we found a video of a woman talking to the camera stating that she choreographed the play.
In the video, she said that the video of the play was shared to promote communal harmony. She can be heard saying, “My name is Pragati Nigam and I am a teacher at Shishu Bharati school.”
Explaining her intentions about creating the play, she said, “The video is being shared in the wrong context. I had directed the play to showcase communal harmony between the major four religions.” She asked people to watch the entire video before judging the motive behind the play.
We also found that the same user shared a video by Lucknow police commenting on the play and the video. The video from the police official confirmed that the video is from Shishu Bharatiya Vidyalaya in Lucknow.
In the video, the police official said, “A video posted on social media shows a girl, portraying Bharat Mata, forced to do namaz after having her crown taken off. We have investigated the video and found that the video is from Shishu Bharatiya Vidyalaya, Malviya Nagar Police Station, Bazarkhala. We reached out to the principal of the school and watched the entire video and found that school students staged a skit. The skit’s theme is one of communal harmony, and it urges people to uphold peace and refrain from engaging in conflicts over religion. Twitter users have misled others by using a clipped section of the video. An investigation has already been initiated.”
The Lucknow police also tweeted a 2:18 minute video of the play which contained the entire performance. The caption read, “The entire video of the play presented by small children for communal harmony has been propagated in a wrong manner by some anti-social elements and a criminal act has been committed to spread communal hatred. Strict legal action will be taken against such people.”
In the extended video, we first see children portraying Hindus praying in front of Bharat Mata. They leave and children donning Muslim attire come, remove the tiara and offer namaz. Later, children playing the role of Sikhs, come and pray with Bharat Mata. In the last part, children come and pray like Christians while the girl playing the role of Bharat Mata plays the role of Jesus Christ too. Thus, in the full video, one can see that all four major religions are depicted.
