Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Kumbh Mela on Sunday and took a dip in the holy confluence. The picture of PM taking the dip took rounds on social media, TV news channel and all was well but a debate was sparked when BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya in a tweet claimed that Modi was India’s first “head of the state” to visit Kumbh.
Refreshing to see Prime Minister wear his faith on his sleeve. He is the first head of the state to visit Kumbh in all these years. #ModiInKumb #ModiKumbhVisit pic.twitter.com/SXofJsE4PB
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 24, 2019
His claims turned out to be false as India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Kumbh and also another former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had visited the place. According to an AltNews report, In the book ‘Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765-1954’, author Kama Maclean included a photograph of Nehru from 1954 at Kumbh and wrote – “In the lead-up to the Mela, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru became personally involved in the arrangements and visited the site, even though it was technically the jurisdiction of the UP government. On another visit to the Mela on Paush Purnima, in the presence of media photographers, he paused to dip his hand in the sacred waters of the sangam…”
For your perusal,
Indira Gandhi ji at Kumbh Mela in 1977. pic.twitter.com/MYQvAjkZt4— Zainab Sikander (@zainabsikander) February 24, 2019
Malviya also mistakenly used the term “head of the state”, which is actually the President of India, whereas the Prime Minister of India is the head of the government and the executive branch of administration.
Fact Check: Video viral as Pulwama terrorist killed taking selfie is old video of Syrian rebels
Fact Check: UPA had approved ISRO’s plan of sending a manned mission into space in 2009