Yoga teacher’s video shared to falsely claim New Zealand’s 'home minister' accepted Hinduism

What is the claim?

A video of a man observing Hindu rituals and praying is going viral with the claim that it shows that New Zealand's home minister has accepted Hinduism, also known as 'Sanatan Dharma.' This video was widely shared on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, and archived versions of such posts can be seen here, here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: X/Screenshot/)

However, the viral claim is false. The man in the video is not New Zealand's home minister. The video shows Brent Goble, an American-origin yoga teacher and husband of Indian TV actor Aashka Goradia. 

How did we verify this?

The alleged conversation of New Zealand's home minister to Hinduism would have made some headlines however, a Google search for news reports about such a development yielded no results.

More importantly, New Zealand does not have the post of a home minister. According to the official website of New Zealand's government, there is a Ministry of Internal Affairs. The ministry is headed by Hon Brooke van Velden, who is also the Workplace Relations and Safety minister. Van Velden is a woman, while the viral video shows a man.

New Zealand Internal Affairs Minister Brooke Van Velden (Source: New Zealand government's official website)

Who is in the viral video?

After closely analyzing the viral video, we noticed a watermark on the right-hand corner, which mentioned the Instagram account 'IBRENTGOBLE.' It's the username used on Instagram by a person named Brent Goble.

The Instagram account had shared the viral video on November 2, 2023. The video caption reads, "Last night was Alex's naming ceremony. While Hinduism isn't part of my upbringing, I love taking part in the rituals that are important to my wife and in-laws. I pray my son grows beautifully through life, faces necessary challenges, fights with fierce passion, and loves with an open heart. ⁣"

According to his Instagram bio, Goble is a yoga teacher and runs a yoga workshop called 'Peace of Blue Yoga.' In the bio section, there is also a link to his blog on yoga. It also has testimonials from his disciples who have praised Goble for his yoga training.

We found that Goble was raised in America and now lives in the state of Goa in India, where he teaches yoga to people. Brent is Indian TV actor Aashka Goradia's husband; he married her in 2017, and in October 2023, the couple had a boy. Actor Aashka Goradia has shared many photos with Goble on her Instagram account.

The verdict

The claim that the viral video shows New Zealand's home minister accepting Hinduism is false. The clip shows American-origin yoga teacher and Indian TV actor Aashka Goradia's husband Brent Goble. Also, New Zealand doesn't have a home minister, and its interior minister (the closest equivalent of a home minister) is a woman. Therefore,we have marked the claim false.

(Translated by Azra Ali)