No, the video doesn't show ex-Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat converting to Islam

What is the claim?

A video of the former Chief Minister of the North Indian state of Uttarakhand and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat is being shared to claim that he converted to Islam. The 54-second-long video shows him with a green shawl around his neck and a person beside him offering prayers at a dargah (a Sufi shrine). 

An X (formerly Twitter) user shared the video and captioned it in Hindi, translating to, “All the countrymen are informed that the senior leader of the Congress party, who has also been the chief minister of Uttarakhand state and is from the Hindu religion, has accepted Islam from today.”

The video is also being shared on Facebook with similar claims. Archive posts can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshots of viral posts circulating on social media. 
(Source: X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, upon examining the video thoroughly, we discovered that the video is from 2021 when Rawat visited the Piran Kaliyar Sharif Dargah in Uttarakhand before the 2022 state Assembly elections. 

What did we find? 

We observed the logo of News18 Uttarakhand on the top right corner of the viral clip and conducted a reverse image search. This led us to a longer version of the viral video, posted by the channel on its official Facebook account (archived here) on November 28, 2021.

The caption in Hindi states, "Former CM Harish Rawat offered prayers for peace by offering chaddar at Sabir Pak's dargah in Piran Kaliyar. During this, he said that Congress will win the Assembly elections with a huge margin.” 

In the video speaking to the media, Rawat can be heard saying, "This is the sanctuary of love and prosperity for all, a place of blessings for everyone. I come to this shrine seeking peace and tranquility for the progress of my state. The arrival of Congress in 2022 signifies the improvement and progress of the state."

Screenshot of the video shared by News18 Uttarakhand on November 18, 2021. (Source: Facebook) 

ETV Bharat also reported on Rawat's visit to the dargah, including the now-viral clip. The report elaborated that during his visit, Rawat offered a chaddar (a holy cloth given as a sign of respect) and flowers at the shrine and prayed for the Congress party’s victory ahead of the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly elections, which were held on February 14, 2022. Similarly, Live Hindustan, a Hindi daily, also reported on his visit to the dargah.

We also found multiple instances of Rawat visiting Hindu temples in 2021 as part of his election campaign. He visited the Badrinath Temple on November 13, 2021, and the Kedarnath Temple on October 26, 2021. In addition, we discovered that in March 2024, the former CM visited the new Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Furthermore, upon conducting a Google search, no results were found on Rawat's religious conversion.

The verdict

Clearly, the claim that the former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat has converted to Islam is false. The video is from 2021 when Rawat visited a dargah ahead of 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly elections.