2019 video of Dubai Police playing Indian National Anthem during Diwali is falsely linked to Independence Day celebrations - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 16, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the visuals are celebrations of Indian Independence Day 2021 in UAE. The post even claims that the people celebrating Indian National Anthem were Dubai Police. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Dubai Police playing Indian National Anthem for 2021 Independence Day celebrations.
Fact: This video of Dubai Police band playing Indian National Anthem was taken in October 2019 to celebrate Diwali. There are no news reports of Dubai Police band playing National Anthem and celebrating Indian Independence Day 2021. On India’s 75 Independence Day (2021), Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world – was lit up in tricolour. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, a larger YouTube video with similar visuals was found. The viral video was taken out from this YouTube video as it was clipped from 1:23 timestamp. The YouTube video was uploaded on 26 October 2019 with the title, ‘Indian National Anthem Played by Dubai Police | UAE and India Friendship’. According to the description of the video, the anthem was played at Dubai Festival City Mall during Diwali celebrations.
On 24 October 2019, members of the Dubai Police Band wearing the traditional Emirati white ‘kandoura’ were seen playing the Indian National Anthem at the Dubai Festival City. The Police band played ‘Jana Gana Mana’ to roars from the crowd, during the Diwali celebrations. The news articles about the event can be seen here and here.
On the occasion of India’s 75 Independence Day, Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world – was lit up in tricolour. The Indian tricolour was hoisted by Ambassador Pavan Kapoor at the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi. There are no news reports of the Dubai Police Band playing the Indian National Anthem and celebrating Indian Independence Day 2021.
To sum it up, a 2019 video of Dubai Police playing the Indian National Anthem during Diwali is falsely shared as Indian Independence Day celebrations.