DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A post on cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni is going viral on social media with a claim that he “didn’t go to Ram Mandir Pran Prathisthan after being invited but visited Gurudwara today during ongoing Farmer’s protest.” It further praised MS Dhoni as “a man with spine who is still upholding secular values.”
Mahendra singh Dhoni didn’t go to Ram mandir Pran prathisthan after being invited but he has visited Gurudwara today during ongoing Farmer’s protest.
MSD is a man with spine who is still upholding secular values ❤️ pic.twitter.com/YFvu2LTslj
— Dr Nimo Yadav Commentary (@niiravmodi) February 26, 2024
The caption reads: “Mahendra singh Dhoni didn’t go to Ram mandir Pran prathisthan after being invited but he has visited Gurudwara today during ongoing Farmer’s protest. MSD is a man with spine who is still upholding secular values (sic).”
The post has been shared here and here and is going viral on social media.
FACT CHECK
The Digiteye India team first checked the image on Google Reverse Image Search and the results showed similar pictures but from October 2022, when the cricketer visited Gurdwara at Khalsa Jatha in London.
The image, shared on October 1, 2022 by a user — Gurpreet Singh Anand (@ustaadji) — and it stated, “I met MS Dhoni a couple of months ago at the Gurdwara @khalsajatha in London and noticed he was calm, at one with himself and able to absorb the spiritual moment. It’s that inner calmness that gives fortitude in situations which may stress many others out.” Going by what he had written, we searched further in archives and found out that the original was uploaded by the same person on his Instagram account here:
View this post on Instagram
The original image posted on July 17, 2022 was seen with a caption that read:”Bowled over with the legendary @mahi7781.”
However, when we checked his Twitter account, we realised that he had shared it again on February 25, 2024 with a cpation that read:” Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the @khalsajatha.” This has been tweaked by some on social media to claim that he visited the Gurdwara recently.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the @khalsajatha. pic.twitter.com/rDGHMHPPXq
— Gurpreet Singh Anand (@ustaadji) February 25, 2024
However, below the February 26, 2024 post of the same, Gurpreet Singh Anand wrote clearly in anoter post that it was 18-months-old picture:
Hence, the image is from 2022 and the same image has been shared intermittently by the user with different captions. The latest post of the same old picture coincided with the ongoing farmers’ protest.
Claim: Indian cricketer M.S. Dhoni visited Gurudwara amid ongoing farmers’ protest, ignoring Ram Mandir invite.
Conclusion: It is clear that the image is from July 2022 and is being falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests.
Rating: Misleading — 
