A photo showing former President Ram Nath Kovind and his successor Droupadi Murmu offering prayers in a temple is being shared on social media claiming it is a recent picture taken ahead of latter’s official swearing in as the President of India. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo showing Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu performing Vedic rituals together before the official swearing in ceremony.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is an old one. The photo was taken in February 2020, when former President Ram Nath Kovind along with the then Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu performed prayers at the Baba Baidynath Temple in Deoghar, Jharkhand. This photo does not show Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu offering prayers before the latter’s official swearing in ceremony as the President of India. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found in an article published by the ‘Prabhat Khabar’ news website on 29 February 2020. ‘Prabhat Khabar’ reported it as the visuals of the then President Ram Nath Kovind offering special rituals at the Baba Baidyanath temple in Deoghar, Jharkhand. In February 2020, as part of the two-day tour to Jharkhand, Ram Nath Kovind along with the then Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu offered prayers at the Baba Baidyanath temple.
Reporting the same, a few other news websites have published the same photo in their articles. A few of those articles can be seen here, here and here.
We could not find any recent reports of Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu performing Vedic rituals together before the latter’s swearing in as the President of India. A video showing the swearing-in-ceremony of President-elect Droupadi Murmu can be seen here.
To sum it up, an old photo shared as a recent picture of Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu performing Vedic rituals before the latter’s official swearing in as the President of India.
