Video of Telangana collector's office inauguration shared with false communal angle

Context

A 30-second video has been widely shared on Twitter and Facebook claiming that Muslim clerics inaugurated a collector's office in Telangana with Islamic prayers. The viral video features Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and other top officials standing in what appears to be a government office, indicated by the presence of the national emblem of India, while a cleric recites verses or prayers.

The video was shared with communal captions including, ''Collector's Office Inauguration ceremony by a Mulla in Telangana. I told you that Islamization has already begun in India. #HindusUnderAttack." Mulla is a derogatory term used for Muslim clerics.

The viral video was compared to the recent inauguration of the new Parliament House as per Hindu traditions led by the prime minister.

However, contrary to the viral claims, the inauguration of the collectorate office in Telangana included prayers from the Hindu, Muslim, and Christian faiths. The viral video has been cropped and shared to support a communal narrative.

In Fact

On conducting a reverse image search on one of the keyframes, we found that fragments of the viral video were initially uploaded on local news channel T News Telugu's YouTube channel on June 4. The video titled "CM KCR Honors Nirmal Collector | KCR Inaugurates Nirmal Integrated Collectorate" is approximately six minutes long and features Rao felicitating Varun Reddy, collector & district magistrate of Nirmal, Telangana. The video showcases two Mulsim clerics reciting verses at 1:35. However, it also captures the participation of two Christian priests in the prayer ceremony.

Further research for the full version of the video using relevant keywords led to the discovery of another video on V6 News Telugu. This video, titled "KCR LIVE: Inauguration Of BRS Party Office And Collectorate Building | Nirmal District," was streamed live on the same date. It provides a more comprehensive view of the inauguration ceremony, including a segment at approximately 27 minutes and 20 seconds that shows the havan, a Hindu ritual. Notably, Rao, the Collector, and the Hindu priests actively participate in this portion of the ceremony.

Subsequently, the video captures the Muslim clerics and the Christian priests performing their respective religious rituals around the 34 minute mark. It is worth mentioning that at approximately 34 minutes and 16 seconds into the video, the Hindu priest can be seen standing alongside the priest and the Muslim cleric, indicating the presence of different religious traditions during the ceremony.

In addition, the official YouTube account of Telangana's Chief Minister Office uploaded a similar video capturing the inauguration.

The extended versions of the viral video offer a more comprehensive view of the event, showcasing the active participation of religious leaders from Hindu, Muslim, and Christian faiths in their respective religious rituals. However, the segment featuring the Maulana reciting Quranic verses was cropped out and widely shared on social media, creating the misleading impression that the inauguration only featured Islamic prayers.

The Verdict

The inauguration of the Nirmal Collectorate Complex in Telangana included prayers from the Hindu, Islamic, and Christian faiths. The viral video was cropped from the larger event and widely shared to fuel communal tensions. Therefore, we have marked this claim as misleading.