A post with a video collage comparing videos of UP police arresting a firecrackers vendor for selling crackers despite a ban and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lighting crackers is being shared with the claim that it shows the hypocrisy of the UP government. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Yogi Adityanath’s government arrested vendors selling crackers while Yogi himself was found lighting crackers during Diwali.
Fact: Video showing Yogi Adityanath lighting crackers is actually from Deepostav organized on 04 August 2020 to commemorate Bhoomi Puja at Ayodhya Ram Temple. However, in a separate incident, police arrested a vendor for selling crackers in Bulandshahr despite a ban. But both these are unrelated events and cannot be compared to claim the hypocrisy of the government regarding the ban on crackers. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The video in which police were seen forcefully arresting a firecracker vendor for selling crackers despite resistance from her daughter by banging her head to the police vehicle refers to an incident which took place in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh on 13 November 2020. However, when the video went viral, UP CM Yogi Adityanath ordered for the release of the vendor and he sent sweets & gifts to the young girl.
Further Google search with relevant keywords led us to a news article dated 04 August 2020 which carried an image similar to the visuals of the video in the post where the UP CM can be seen lighting firecrackers. According to the article, the image shows Yogi lighting firecrackers as part of Deepotsav which was celebrated on 04 & 05 August 2020 in order to commemorate the Bhoomi Puja for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Video showing UP CM lighting firecrackers ahead of the Bhoomi Puja at Ayodhya is shared by a news agency on their Twitter account. Few more news articles reporting the same can be read here and here. With this, we can say that the video showing the UP CM lighting crackers is not related to Diwali and hence both the videos cannot be compared.
In the light of the UP government’s decision to ban the sale and use of fireworks in few districts till 30 November 2020 in order to check air pollution, posts like these are being circulated on social media with misleading claims.
To sum it up, video showing UP CM Yogi Adityanath lighting crackers is related to the deepostav organized ahead of bhoomi puja for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
