On July 12, Union Home minister Amit Shah visited the Sri Rajarajeswara Temple at Taliparmba, Kannur, in Kerala and offered prayers.
In the above backdrop, an image of him has gone viral on social media in which he is seen wearing a slipper.
The image is shared with a caption claiming that he was wearing slippers while he was in the premises of the temple. Embedded text on the image read, “Amit Shah wears sandals at Rajarajeshwari temple in Taliparamba.”
A social media user shared the image with a caption that reads, “Vote is important, not trust. No matter how hard you try, the Malayali community will not let the lotus bloom here, Malayalees are not stupid as they are, the people there are suffering from getting one Thrissur, the leaders who put their hands in the begging pot of the poor like in the North, why not allow them to accept like that here.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The image was taken when he was outside the temple premises.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video of Amit Shah visiting the temple was shared by Oneindia Malayalam on July 12.
In the video, we can clearly see that Amit Shah is coming out of the temple premises barefooted and then wears the slipper.
Later, at around 17 seconds, he is seen wearing the slipper when he is already outside the temple premise. Also, this keyframe is similar to the viral image. We can see the man in the pink shirt in the background. Also, we can see another man in blue dress in the background. Thus, showcasing that the viral shorts are of the time when he had came out of the temple premises.
We also saw a 360 degree image of Rajarajeshwara Temple as present on the Google Maps. In the image we can see a large courtyard-like area after the main gate. Moreover, the temple is situated in an old and large wall, as seen in the images present in the Google Maps.
Another video of the event was shared by Manorama News on July 12. In this video, we can see Amit Shah is initially wearing a kurta-pyjama. He later goes inside a room in the temple to change his dress to dhoti.
Later, at around 2:50 timestamp, he is then seen entering the temple premises, which is inside a door. And when he comes out of the temple premises at around 3:17 seconds, we can see him coming out barefooted.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
