Man Removing Holy Thread From People's Hands Misidentified as SP Leader

The man is a social activist and retired government officer who isn't linked to any political party.

The video falsely claimed to show Samajwadi Party leader removing a holy thread from people's hands and that he asked them to never go to a temple.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A viral video claims to show Samajwadi Party's Shiv Shankar Yadav removing kalawa (a sacred thread) from the hands of people and asking them to pledge to never visit a temple.

However, we found that the man seen in the video is a social activist and retired government officer Shivshankar Ramkamal Singh who also identifies himself as 'Shudra Shivshankar Singh Yadav' as part of his campaign.

Speaking to The Quint's WebQoof team, he said that the viral claim is false and that he is not associated with any political party.

CLAIM

The Facebook account of one Suresh Goel shared the video, garnering 1,200 shares, with the claim: "समाजवादी पार्टी के शिव शंकर यादव ने हिन्दुओं का कलावा काटा और कभी मंदिर ना जाने की कस्म भी दिलाई।"

(Translated: Shiv Shankar Yadav from Samajwadi Party cut the holy thread of Hindus and also made a vow to never go to a temple.)

You can view the archived version here.

(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

The video is being shared massively on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim and the archived posts can be viewed here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We searched on YouTube with keywords 'समाजवादी पार्टी के शिव शंकर यादव कलावा' (Translated: Samajwadi Party's Shiv Shakar Yadav Kalaava) and came across a video uploaded on 30 November 2020.

The caption shared along with the video, that carried the viral visuals, identified the man as one 'Shudra Shivshankar Singh Yadav.'

We then reached out to the man seen in the viral video, who identified himself as a social activist and told us that he is not associated with any political party. He also added that the claim made in the video is incorrect.

"The video is from November 2020 when I had visited a village in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur to attend a family function. I asked the people if they knew the significance of wearing the thread and they told me that they had no idea. So, I removed it and people were happily getting it removed."

Shivshankar Singh Yadav, Social Activist

He further said that he is a retired government officer and lives in Mumbai. He now runs a social campaign called 'गर्व से कहो हम शूद्र हैं' (Proud to say that I am a Shudra).

"My official name is Shivshankar Ramkamal Singh. For the past five years, I have been identifying myself as 'Shudra Shivshankar Singh Yadav' for the sake of my campaign," he added.

He has filed a complaint with the police regarding the claims being made and shared the copy of the same with The Quint's WebQoof team.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

IS THERE ANY SP LEADER BY THE SAME NAME?

We searched on MyNeta.info's website and found that a person by the name Shiv Shankar Singh Yadav is associated with the Samajwadi Party and is based out of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.

(Source: MyNeta.info/ Screenshot)

Further, The Quint's correspondent Piyush Rai had earlier spoken to SP's Shiv Shankar Singh Yadav and confirmed that the man seen in the viral video is not the SP leader, who is former party district president from Mirzapur.

On comparing the man seen in the viral visuals and the SP leader from Mirzapur, we found a stark difference in the two.

Left: Viral video. Right: SP leader.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Evidently, a viral video falsely claimed to show Samajwadi Party leader removing a holy thread from people's hands and that he asked them to never go to a temple.

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