Are the locals in Andhra Pradesh fighting with Christians after they held a prayer meeting inside Ram Temple? Know the truth.

Now a video is going viral on social media in which a man is fighting with the people attending a Christian prayer meeting. Watching the video, it seems that the man is not happy about the prayer meeting being held. 

Users are claiming that the incident happened in Gangavaram district of Andhra Pradesh state where Christians organized a prayer meeting inside the Ram temple due to which the locals are fighting with the church people over it.

However, Fact Crescendo found the viral claim to be false. There is no communal angle to this incident. The prayer meeting of the church was not held in the temple. A family feud is going viral with false claims. 

What’s the claim? 

Sharing the video, social media users are claiming that a Pastor conducted Christian prayer inside Gangavaram Ram Temple in Andhra Pradesh. Seeing this, locals are fighting with the Chirstians gathered at that place. 

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We found that, in 2022, BJP leader Sunil Deodhar tweeted a video of the incident and wrote, “Unacceptable Humiliation! Pushing conversion agenda of CM @ysjagan, Limit is crossed by Church With illegally occupying #RamMandir in #Gangavaram by a Pastor & conducting Christian Prayer in it. All culprits must immediately be arrested. Hindus! Raise voice as #RamInsultedInAP!”

Fact Check- 

A relevant keyword search on Google led us to tweets from Kakinada police . Police had clarified that this is a fake news which is circulating on social media claiming that the preaching of Jesus Christ was held at a Ram temple in Gangavaram district of Andhra Pradesh.

East Godavari SP M. Rabindranath explained that a woman had organized a church prayer meeting on the road in front of her house which was near the Ram temple. Puja is also performed in that temple every day but there is no conflict between Hindus and Christians. On March 30, 2022, when the prayer meeting was going on, the woman’s son Srinivas went there and quarreled with his mother that she was spending a lot of money for the church meeting. Seeing this, the woman called 100 and called the police. According to other relatives of Srinivas, he deliberately spread falsehoods on social media to create religious hatred.  

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According to the India Today report on 2 April 2022, Andhra Pradesh police issued a clarification emphasizing that the Church prayer was not organized inside Ram Temple. A resident named Mangayama organized this Christian prayer meeting on the street outside her house which was close to the temple. The East Godavari SP had highlighted that the daily worship at Ram temple happens everyday and there was no conflict between the two communities till now. Both the communities are said to have cordial relations with each other.According to the police, when prayers were being offered on 30 March 2022, Mangayam’s elder son Srinivas argued with her for spending a huge amount of money to conduct prayers. When Srinivas began to quarrel with his mother, Mangayama and others informed the police in Pamarru to settle the dispute.

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Conclusion: 

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. The Church prayer meet was organized on the street outside the house of a Church member and not inside the temple. There is no communal angle to it. This was a family dispute case which was falsely shared with a communal angle.