2022 photo shared as ex-India cricketer MS Dhoni visiting gurudwara amid farmer protests

What is the claim?

A social media user has shared a photo of Indian cricketer Mahender Singh Dhoni with a man in a turban, claiming that the former Team India captain did not attend the Ram temple consecration in January 2024 but visited Gurudwara (a place of assembly and worship for the Sikh community) amid the ongoing farmers' protest. Farmers have been staging protests in India demanding a legal guarantee for a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops; these protests entered their third week on  February 28, 2024, as talks between farmers and government have not been successful, the Times of India reports.

The post making the claim has garnered over 416,000 views on X (formerly Twitter). Archive versions of such posts can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts.(Source: X/ Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the viral photo is not recent and dates back to 2022. 

How did we verify this?

A Google reverse image search led us to a cropped version of the now-viral image posted on an Instagram account named Gurpreet Singh Anand (@gurpreet.singh.anand), with the caption: "Bowled over with the legendary @mahi7781," on July 17, 2022. The user's bio identifies him as the "Chair of the managing trustees at the Khalsa Jatha British Isles." Our research showed that the Khalsa Jatha British Isles is one of the oldest gurudwaras in Europe, established in London in 1908. 

According to the official website of Khalsa Jatha British Isles, Gurpreet Singh Anand is the President of the gurudwara.

Screenshot of Instagram post dated July 17 2022.(Source: Gurpreet Singh Anand Instagram account)

In fact, Anand shared this very image on February 26, 2024, on his X account with the caption, "Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the @khalsajatha." However, he added in a reply to this post that Dhoni had visited the gurdwara "18 months ago." Many users on social media have mistaken this image to be recent, since it had been re-shared.

(Source: Screenshot/X/ustaadji)

In October 2022, Anand shared another image of him sitting with Dhoni on X as a reply to a news report about Dhoni. Sharing an image of himself and Dhoni seated on the ground, Anand wrote, "I met MS Dhoni a couple of months ago at the Gurdwara @khalsajatha in London and noticed he was calm, at one with himself and able to absorb the spiritual moment. It's that inner calmness that gives fortitude in situations which may stress many others out (sic)."

Screenshot of the 2022 tweet. (Source: X/ustaadji)

Hindustan Times reported that the former India cricketer was in England on a holiday and attended the second match in the ODI series between India and England held on July 14, 2022, at Lord's in London.

We also researched whether MS Dhoni had made any statements endorsing the farmers or their protests in India. No such posts on his social media accounts or credible reports suggest he recently made any solidarity statements. Any suck comments would have made national, and perhaps international, news. 

It is to be noted that MS Dhoni was invited to the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, and news outlets like India Today published a picture of Dhoni receiving the invite. However, he was not seen at the ceremony. 

Amid the ongoing farmers' protest, several misleading claims have been circulating on social media for a few weeks. Logically Facts has fact-checked such claims here, here, and here.

The verdict

A 2022 image of Mahendra Singh Dhoni visiting a gurudwara in London has been shared with the claim that his visit was recent, amid the farmer protests. Therefore, we have marked this claim as misleading.