India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi received blessings from two prominent Hindu religious leaders at the wedding celebrations for the son of Asia’s richest man, contrary to claims he snubbed one of them for not attending the inauguration of a controversial temple in Ayodhya. The false claim was shared in posts that included a clip of the “insult”, but longer videos posted by multiple news organisations showed Modi had greeted both religious leaders.
The clip was shared on Facebook on July 17, 2024 after a three-day Hindu wedding ceremony for the son of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.
The ceremony, the latest instalment of months-long wedding celebrations for Ambani’s younger son Anant and fiancee Radhika Merchant, was attended by a star-studded guest list including Hollywood celebrities, global business leaders and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Text above the video says, “Shankaracharya Sadanand Saraswati blessed Narendra Modi by draping a chunari (a long scarf) on him”, and the logo of the local news channel India TV can be seen in the top-left corner.
Modi can be seen approaching a Shankaracharya — one of India’s four Hindu pontiffs — who is seated on a silver throne-like chair. He bows with his hands in the prayer position while the holy man drapes a scarf over him.
Modi then appears to walk by another Shankaracharya without acknowledging him.
The clip’s Hindi-language caption read: “Modi Ji took blessings from one of the two Shankaracharyas at Ambani’s wedding by touching his feet. The other Shankaracharya kept raising questions about Ram Mandir and refused the invitation and did not even go to the inauguration of Ram Mandir.
“Modi Ji did not even look back at him. A huge insult. Tit for tat.”
None of the four Shankaracharya attended the inauguration of the flashpoint Ram Mandir in the northern town of Ayodhya in January.
The temple, which embodied the triumph of the prime minister’s muscular Hindu nationalist politics, was built on grounds where a mosque stood for centuries before it was torn down by Hindu zealots incited by members of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Local media reported that the Shankaracharyas said they were not anti-Modi or opposed to the temple, but chose not to attend because the rituals being followed for the consecration were “against the scriptures” (archived link).
The clip supposedly showing Modi ignoring one of the Shankaracharyas was also shared elsewhere on Facebook here, as well as on X here and here.
But Modi in fact received blessings from both pontiffs.
Shankaracharya blessings
A reverse image search on Google using a keyframe from the falsely shared clip found the same video was posted as a Facebook reel on the verified page of India TV (archived link).
Its caption is the same as the text above the video, “Shankaracharya Sadanand Saraswati blessed Narendra Modi by draping a chunari on him”.
It makes no mention of Modi insulting the other Shankaracharya — Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati — at the wedding.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the India TV Facebook reel (right):
India TV also posted another Facebook reel showing Modi receiving blessings from both Shankaracharyas (archived link).
The video’s caption reads, “Shankaracharya Avimukteshwarananda took off his garland and put it on Modi”.
It shows Modi touching Avimukteshwaranand’s feet and bowing, and the Shankaracharya putting the garland over the prime minister’s head.
Modi is then shown moving on to greet Shankaracharya Sadanand, who is sitting next to Avimukteshwaranand. The video shows Modi having a scarf draped over his head from an alternative angle to the previous Facebook reel.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the India TV Facebook reel (right):
The footage of Modi receiving blessings from both Hindu leaders was also shared in reports by other news outlets posted on YouTube here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
Another clip of Modi receiving a blessing from Avimukteshwaranand was also uploaded to the Hindu pontiff’s official Facebook page (archived link).
Its caption read, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the blessing of the Shankaracharya in Mumbai”.
Denying rumours of tension between the Shankaracharyas and Modi, Avimukteshwaranand told local media: “It is our rule that we will bless whoever comes to us. Narendra Modi ji is not our enemy” (archived link).
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