Videos show both Hindu religious leaders at Ambani wedding celebrations blessed Indian PM Modi

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on July 19, 2024

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).