Video from 2020 shared as Rishi Sunak performing rituals before entering new office. – FactCrescendo | The leading fact-checking website in India

The viral video shows Rishi Sunak celebrating Diwali in 2020. It does not show Sunak performing rituals before entering his new office the Prime Minister of UK

Since Rishi Sunak became the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the hashtag # RishiSunak has been the most popular on social media. While some users congratulated him for becoming the Prime Minister of the UK, others shared several unrelated videos and images of Rishi Sunak claiming them to be recent.
Amidst this, a video showing Rishi Sunak lighting diyas at the entrance of a door is widely circulating on social media with the claim that Rishi Sunak was spotted performing rituals before entering his new office as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The caption of the video states, “The new UK PM performing his spiritual/traditional rituals before entering his new office. We have largely abandoned ours.”

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Fact Check-

We started our investigation by running a keyword search on Google, whose results led us to the same video by Rishi Sunak on his official Twitter account on 14 November 2020 with the caption, “I’ve placed our rangoli outside No.11, the mithai are set to be delivered and the family Zoom is booked in. I know things will feel a bit different, and it’s hard not to be able to see family, but we will get through this together. Happy Diwali everyone!”

This makes it very clear that the viral video does not show Rishi Sunak lighting diyas as a part of traditional rituals before entering his new office.

We found the same video and images uploaded by Reuters and Getty Images on 12 November 2020. According to them, the video shows Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak lighting candles outside Downing Street ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali, in London, Britain.

In the video, Sunak can be seen placing candles outside Number 11 Downing Street, the official address of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Rishi Sunak served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 till 2022.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be shared without  proper context. The viral video does not show UK PM Rishi Sunak lighting diyas as a part of traditional rituals before entering his new office as the PM. The video dates back to 2020 when Rishi Sunak was celebrating Diwali as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK.

Title:Video from 2020 shared as Rishi Sunak performing rituals before entering new office.

Fact Check By: Drabanti Ghosh 

Result: Missing Context