Mamata Banerjee did NOT visit the dargah secretly at night

Social media is filled with misinformation related to the upcoming West Bengal state assembly elections. Amidst this a video of Mamata Banerjee is circulating on social media where people wearing skull caps belonging to the Muslim community are seen around her. In the video, these people are also repeatedly taking the name of Allah. Social media users claim that earlier Mamata Banerjee would meet people from the Muslim community in broad daylight, but now she is meeting them in the dark of the night. Sharing this, it has been said that Hindus are being fooled by doing so and the video has been recorded through a hidden camera where CM Mamata Banerjee can be seen praying.

The caption of the post mentions that “In the dark of the night Mamata Banerjee is meeting the Muslims while earlier she is used to meet them in broad light. Now Hindus are being fooled in broad daylight! All the movements were recorded using a hidden camera. Spread it so that every person in West Bengal understands this.”

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a keyword search on Google to find similar news regarding the video and found a similar news article published on 9 March 2021 by ABP News. According to the report Mamata Banerjee went to the temple and dargah before filing nomination in Nandigram. After addressing the public meeting in Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee offered prayers at the Hari temple and later she also went to the Durga temple. Mamata Banerjee reached the dargah after this where she offered flowers. The Chief Minister said that some people are talking about 70:30 ratio (Hindu-Muslim population). Those who are doing so are defaming the holy movement of Nandigram by creating a difference between the minds of both the communities. She also served tea to the people there.

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In the video report of Times Now on published 9 March 2021, the news of Mamata Banerjee going to the dargah can be seen. In this video report, a person wearing a blue striped check shirt can be seen, which can also be seen in the viral video. Apart from this, Mamata Banerjee can be seen wearing a pink coloured scarf and off-white mask in the video report. She is wearing the same in the viral video.

Below you can view a comparison between the viral video and the news report published by Times now.

In a news report published by Aaj Tak we can see Mamata Banerjee offering a chadar in the dargah. Thus, Mamata Banerjee reached the temple and dargah before filing her nomination in Nandigram. A video of her visiting the Dargah was shared on social media with the misleading claim that she is going to the dargah secretly. But in fact, this news about Mamta Banerjee visiting the dargah was widely covered by many media outlets at that time.

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Conclusion– Fact Crescendo found the above-mentioned post to be Misleading and False. The viral video on social media is falsely being shared as Mamata Banerjee visited the dargah at night secretly whereas originally her visit to the dargah and temple was widely covered by several media organizations. The viral video on social media is not a hidden camera sting operation, in reality her visit was widely covered by media.