Did President Murmu and Former President Kovind perform Puja in Baidyanath Temple before her oath-taking ceremony? NO
An image of Former President Ramnath Kovind and President Droupadi Murmu performing puja in Baidyanath temple is being shared virally with a narrative that both performed the puja as a power transfer ritual before the oath-taking ceremony of Draupadi Murmu.
An image of Former President Ramnath Kovind and President Droupadi Murmu performing puja in Baidyanath temple is being shared virally with a narrative that both performed the puja as a power transfer ritual before the oath-taking ceremony of Draupadi Murmu.
Myindmedia.com published an article sharing the viral image with the narrative "రాష్టపతి రామ్ నాథ్ కోవింద్ ఝార్ఖండ్ లోని ప్రసిద్ధ జ్యోతిర్లింగ క్షేత్రం బైద్యనాథ్ ను సందర్శించారు. రేపటితో రాష్ట్రపతిగా ఆయన పదవీకాలం ముగియనుంది. రాష్ట్రపతి హోదాలో ఝార్ఖండ్ లో ఆయన చివరి పర్యటన ఇది అని చెప్పవచ్చు. అయితే బైద్యనాథుడి దర్శనానికి వెళ్తూ ఆయన కాబోయే రాష్ట్రపతి ద్రౌపదిముర్మును ఆహ్వానించారు. ఇద్దరూ కలిసి బాబా బైద్యనాథుడికి ప్రత్యేక పూజలు చేశారు. ఈనెల 25న ముర్ము భారత రాష్ట్రపతిగా ప్రమాణస్వీకారం చేయనున్నారు".
When translated claims that "President Ram Nath Kovind visited Baidyanath, the famous Jyotirlinga temple in Jharkhand. His tenure as President will end tomorrow. It can be said that this will be his last visit to Jharkhand as President. But while going to visit Baidyanath, he invited the future President Draupadi murmu. Both of them together offered special pooja to Baba Baidyanath. Murmu will be sworn in as the President of India on 25th of this month"
This claim was also viral in all platforms of social media with Hindi caption "#विरासत सौंपना या सत्ता हस्तांतरण करना, अपने आप में एक यज्ञ होता है। यज्ञ देवों और महादेव के साक्षित्व में होता है। हस्तांतरण के ये क्षण, इन क्षणों के भाव, अंतर्भाव और वातावरण ही इतिहास लिखते हैं। राष्ट्रपति पद का हस्तांतरण देखिए , वैदिक प्रतिबद्धता प्रथमतः हो रही है..."
When translated states that "To hand over or transfer power is a sacrifice in itself. Yagya takes place in the presence of Devas and Mahadev. These moments of transfer, the feelings, the inner feelings and the atmosphere of these moments write history. See the transfer of the presidency, the Vedic commitment is being done first..."
Fact check:
The claim that the image shows President Murmu with former President Kovind together performing puja in Baidyanath Temple a day before her oath-taking ceremony is FALSE.
When we performed a reverse image search in Google, we found that the image is an old one from the year 2020. This was taken in February 2020, when President of the time Ramnath Kovind visited Deoghar, Jharkhand. He was accompanied by Draupadi Murmu, who was the governor of Jharkhand at that time.
According to reports, he reached Deoghar by Air force plane. Minister Badal Patralekh welcomed him at the airport. Governor Draupadi Murmu was also present with them.
The President reached the Baidyanath temple and offered his prayers for the happiness and prosperity of the country.
We can see similar images shared by all the publications in February 2020.
News reports also stated that President Ram Nath Kovind is the third President to visit Deoghar. Earlier, the country's first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad and President Pranab Mukherjee had offered prayers at Baba Baidyanath Temple.
We can also see the video of Ramnath Kovind performing Puja in the temple published in ETV Bharat on February 29, 2020.
Hence, the image shared is an old one and is going viral with a FALSE context. It was taken when Ramnath Kovind visited the temple as President while Draupadi Murmu was Governor of Jharkhand in the year 2020.