Fact Check: Man Objecting to Hindu Priest Performing Rituals Is Not From Karnataka

A video of a man objecting to a Bhoomi Pujan involving a Hindu foundation laying ceremony involving just a Hindu priest is being shared widely on the social media. It is being claimed that this video is from Karnataka.

A tweet in Hindi said, " this leader is angry because the PWD officer called only a Pandit for the Bhoomi Puja, not a Pastor or a Maulvi. This is Karnataka under Congress rule."

OneIndia has learnt that this video is from Tamil Nadu and not Karnataka as is being claimed. The man seen in the video is S Senthilkumar, a Lok Sabha MP from the DMK.

At the start of the video we saw a man arriving with a group of people at the banks of a lake, where arrangements were being made for a religious ceremony according to Hindu customs. A Hindu priest was also present there and a few seconds into the video, the man could be seen questioning the government official present there. He asks in Tamil whether they were aware that a government event should not involve any prayers from only one particular religion.

He also asks The Hindu priest to leave and says that in Tamil Nadu the Dravidian model is followed which involves all religions.

Per this report the DMK MP had opposed only a Hindu puja at a government event, while adding that all faiths should be represented. The report also said that the MP was invited to the event for a lake rejuvenation project.

The MP had said that he made it clear that he would not take part if there is saffron or turmeric painted on the brick. But the instructions were not followed. DMK practices the Dravidian model and this means everyone should be included, he also said.

The MP later on inaugurated the project and no prayers were held as initially scheduled.

Hence it is clear that the video being shared with the claim that it is from Karnataka is false. The incident took place in Tamil Nadu.