Fact Check: Viral video claiming Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia is not related to festival
Diwali is the most important festival in India. Millions of Hindus celebrated Diwali on October 31, 2024, with lights and firecrackers.
Saudi Arabia
Diwali is the most important festival in India. Millions of Hindus celebrated Diwali on October 31, 2024, with lights and firecrackers. They illuminated their houses with colourful lights and exuberant rangolis. Everyone enjoys bursting a variety of firecrackers along with their near and dear ones. Keeping up his tradition of celebrating the festival with soldiers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sir Creek near the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat's Kutch district and offered sweets to jawans. Two Guinness World Records, the most people performing 'aarti' simultaneously, and the largest display of oil lamps were set at the eighth edition of Deepotsav in Ayodhya on October 30, 2024.
The two records were set on 55 ghats, including Ram ki Paidi, on the banks of the Saryu River in the holy city. Over 25 lakh earthen lamps (diyas) were lit together, and 1,121 'vedacharyas' (teachers of religious texts) performed 'aarti' simultaneously. The diyas were counted using drones.
Meanwhile, a video firecrackers being bursted in a street with huge skyscrapers with several bystanders watching and recording in their phones is in circulation with the claim that it shows Deepavali celebrations in Saudi Arabia, while people of the same community in our country were mourning. The caption in Hindi goes “ कल असली मुसलमान अरब में दीपा
Fact Check:
The claim is Misleading. The video shows the celebration of the 94th Saudi National Day in September 2024 and not Diwali.
When we extracted keyframes from the video and searched them using reverse image search, we found that the some clippings in viral video were online since September 2024. We found a YouTube video published on September 23, 2024, with the title ‘Happy 94th Saudi National Day’.
The National Day of Saudi Arabia is celebrated on September 23rd of each year to commemorate the unification of the Kingdom and its founding. So, we confirmed that this video was shot on the National Day of Saudi Arabia. The video has been online even before the Saudi National Day in 2024.
An Instagram user shared the same video on September 19, 2024, with the caption “In advance of Saudi Arabia’s 94th National Day, I extend my warmest wishes to the kingdom and its people. May this special day be a time to reflect on the nation’s rich heritage, achievements, and bright future. Here’s to continued unity, progress, and success under the vision of a prosperous tomorrow. Happy National Day in advance. Saudi Arabia.”
Though the Telugupost team was unable to confirm which place and date this fireworks celebration took place, according to the fact check published by India Today, a similar fireworks celebration took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after the country won the hosting rights to the Expo 2030. This celebration took place in November 2023.
We also found similar videos, when we searched with the keywords 'Saudi celebrates bid win for Expo 2030', but not the exact video.
Although we could not confirm the exact date of the video, it is not related to Diwali. The claim is False.