Did Farooq Abdullah Sing a Devotional Song After Abrogation of Article 370? Nope

The video of Farooq Abdullah singing the devotional song 'more Ram' could be traced back to 2009 on YouTube.

The claim states that former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah sang a Hindu devotional song post abrogation of Article 370. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video of National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah singing a devotional song 'more Ram' (my Ram) is being shared on social media with the claim that he has strikingly changed after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, which gave Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) a special status.

However, we found that this is an old video and could be traced back to 2009, where the former J&K chief minister was singing the devotional song at a religious gathering in the presence of self-styled godman and rape convict Asaram.

CLAIM

The video is being shared on social media with a claim in Hindi that reads, "धारा 370 हटाने के बाद फारूक अब्दुल्ला में अद्भुत तब्दीली."

(Translation: Amazing transformation in Farooq Abdullah after the abrogation of Article 370.)

An archive of the tweet can be seen here. 

(Source:Twitter/Screenshot)

Social media users have shared the video along with the similar claims and the archived versions can be seen here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

With the help of InVid, a Google Chrome extension used for video verification, we extracted several keyframes from the video and conducted a reverse image search along with the keyword 'Farooq Abdullah bhajan' on some of them.

A Google reverse image search result led us to a longer version of the video on YouTube that was posted in 2018 where the title read 'Farooq Abdullah singing Jai Shree Ram', and rape convict Asaram can also be seen in the video.

Next, we searched on YouTube using relevant keywords and found one video on the YouTube channel named 'satsangamrit' posted on 21 September 2009.

The description of the video read, "Dr Farukh Abdulla at jammu satsang 28 April 2001(sic)"

The viral video clip can be heard from 0:54 secs to 2:21 minutes in this video.

We also found a similar rendition of the song sung by Abdullah in a 'Zee India Conclave' show that was posted in the YouTube channel on Zee News on 17 March 2018, hosted by news anchor Rubika Liyaquat.

He had also sang a devotional song in 2015 while visiting the Raghunath temple in Jammu.

While we haven't been able to verify when did the event happen, but the fact that the same video existed in 2009 make it abundantly clear that it is not a video of Abdullah singing a devotional song after Articles 370 and 35(A) were nullified by the Centre in 2019.

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