Was ISRO Chief felicitated at Bangalore RSS office? Read Fact Check

A video is going viral with a claim that ISRO Chief Somnath was felicitated at the RSS office, Bangalore. The video with the viral claim was shared by X user, Mr Sinha who gave the caption as,” ISRO Chief Somnath at the RSS office, Bangalore. It will give solid heartburn to Italians/IsIamists/commies.”

His tweet received 6,401 reposts and 39.2k likes ,thus indicating a widespread sharing of the video with the claim.

The similar claims were shared by multiple twitter users. You can find their tweets below.

Fact Check

On investigation, DFRAC team found that it was an old video posted  on July 19 ,2023 by Rajesh Padmar, RSS Pranth Prachar Pramukh. He shared the video where ISRO chief was felicitated at Rashtrotthana Parishat, Chamarajapete, Bengaluru, which is an NGO and not an office of RSS.

In his post , he has shared pictures and the video of the felicitation which matches with the viral video.

We also checked the website of Rashtrotthana Parishat .We came across an article whose title read,” Rashtrotthana Parishat Felicitates ISRO Chief, Dr. Somnath”

The article further mentioned that,”Dr. Somnath was invited to the Rashtrothtana Parishat’s head office in Chamarajpet, where he was presented with a shawl by Sri Dattatreya Hosabale, Sahakaryavah of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).”

Rashtrotthana Parishat is a Public Charitable Voluntary Organization in Bangalore, Karnataka registered in 1965, under the Societies Act. Hence it is not an RSS office.

We also found the media reports, dated August 24, 2023 published by The Indian Express, ANI, Hindustan Times. It mentioned Karnataka govt felicitated ISRO chief, 500 scientists involved in Chandrayaan-3 mission by CM Siddaramaiah at the Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru.

Vidhana Soudha (lit. ’Legislative House’) in Bangalore, India, is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka.

Conclusion:

DFRAC Factcheck proves that the viral video is an old video shared by users with false claim. The event in the video to honor ISRO chief, was organized by the Rashtrothtana Parishat to celebrate his achievements in space exploration and to express its support for ISRO’s future missions. Hence the viral claim is misleading.