As India celebrated its 76th Independence Day on August 15, a video of school students performing in a play was widely shared on social media.The video shows a girl dressed in a sari and a crown surrounded by boys and girls dressed up in skull caps and hijabs. As the video progresses, the students in skull caps remove the crown from the head of the girl supposedly dressed as “Bharat Mata”. They are then seen putting a scarf on her head and all of them start offering namaz.
Those sharing the video claimed this video was from the Shishu Bharti Vidyalay in Malviya Nagar, Aishbagh, Lucknow. They also asked for strict action against the school for depicting such a scene in a children’s play.Bharatiya Janata Party leader Abhijat Mishra shared this video, tagging Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking his attention on the matter. He has since deleted his tweet.This video clearly shows how the play featured different groups of students denoting different religious groups offering prayers as per Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Christian customs, along with the girl in the sari. It did not just show students removing the crown and making the girl in the sari offer namaz.AWFA reached out to Sunil Sharma, an additional CP in the Lucknow Police Commissionerate. He said, “Following an investigation, we found that on the occasion of Independence Day, the play was staged by children where prayers of all the religions were performed. But someone shared the clipped video on social media. We are taking cognisance of the matter, and action will be taken.Therefore, it is safe to conclude that a viral video from Lucknow’s school was shared with a false and communal twist.
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