Democrat Joe Biden won the presidency on 7th November 2020 after a bitter election campaign and promised he would work to unify a deeply divided country, even as President Donald Trump refused to accept defeat. Amidst this, a video showing two men chanting Indian Vedic mantras went viral on social media claiming that the Indian Vedic Shloks were recited at the White House before the new American President entered office.
The caption of the post mentions that
“Rtns Pls observe how the White House first day before entering the New American PRESIDENT, How they perform Indian Slocas invocking Almighty of the UNIVERS for the GOOD happening of the Countrymen.”
Fact Check-
Fact Crescendo found the above-mentioned post to be False. We found that the video is from an event held at the White House in October 2014
We started our investigation by observing the video carefully where we found that the text “Dharmic Dialogue: Seva and Social Justice” was written on the white screen behind the two men who were chanting the mantras. Next, we conducted a reverse image search on the key frames by InVid-We Verify Tool along with appropriate keywords which led us to a similar video posted on Facebook on 14th October 2014. The verified account of Giridhar Talla posted this video with the caption “Jeffrey Erhard and Robbie Erhard started off the fourth annual Hindu American Seva Communities Conference with the first anuvakam of Sri Rudram Namakam.”
The post further describes the video to show the celebration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 145th birth anniversary at the White House on October 2nd 2014. This is the Hindu American Seva Communities fourth annual conference.
With a further keyword search we found a similar Youtube video of the same event uploaded by the YouTube channel of the Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC), an organisation of American Hindus. A white banner with “Hindu American Seva Communities” written on it is clearly visible in this version of the video. This confirmed that the event was held by HASC on October 2nd, 2014.
With a further keyword search we found a press note about the event on the HASC website. The Press note read as “The Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC) Fourth Annual White House Seva Conference took place on October 2nd, 2014. This year’s conference, “Dharmic Dialogue: Seva and Social Justice”, marked the 145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi,”.
Moreover we found that the White House, the official residence and workplace of the US President, is still occupied by Trump, and Biden and is expected to be sworn in only in January 2021.
Conclusion- Fact Crescendo found the above-mentioned post to be False. We found that the video is from an event held at the White House in October 2014. Also America’s President-elect Joe Biden is expected to take oath in January 2021.
Title:This video does not show Joe Biden being welcomed in White House with Vedic chants
Fact Check By: Aavya RayResult: False
