The foundation stone laying ceremony for Ayodhya’s Ram Temple on August 5 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was witnessed by millions of people across the country via live telecast from the National broadcaster Doordarshan.
However, a viral post on social media claims that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M)-led LDF government in Kerala announced a total blackout in the state on August 5 to prevent people from watching the Ram Mandir bhoomi pujan ceremony.
One such claim on Twitter reads, “Total blackout in Kerala to prevent people from watching #ramjanmbhumi pujan today. Thank you communists for alienating one community to appease others. Kerala will now realise which party to vote for.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. The power supply in Kerala has been severely disrupted due to torrential rains and heavy winds for the last several days. The majority of the districts had an uninterrupted power supply on the day of bhoomi pujan.
The claim is also viral on Facebook.
AFWA probe
The left parties CPI and CPI(M) had earlier opposed the involvement of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government in the Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan ceremony saying it would violate the spirit of the Constitution. The parties had also objected to the Centre’s decision to live telecast the event on Doordarshan.
AFWA contacted some major regional channels in Kerala to know if they faced any difficulty during the live telecast of the event.
Sindhu Sooryakumar, the Chief Coordinating Editor of Asianet News told AFWA, “For the last so many days the power supply in many districts of Kerala has been severely disrupted due to heavy rains and winds. However, unlike claimed by many on social media, there was no blackout in Kerala. We faced no particular disruption during the live telecast of bhoomi pujan. We went live from Ayodhya from 11:30 am to almost 3:30 pm.”
Johny Lukose, the News Director of Manorama News also confirmed to AFWA that the channel experienced no power disruption during the live telecast.
Lukose said, “Ayodhya is a sensitive matter and the state government will not make a move to impose a blackout on the day of the Ram temple’s bhoomi pujan ceremony. After all, if there was any major disruption in watching the live telecast there would have been a conscious effort from the part of the public in alerting us. However, nothing of that sort happened.”
AFWA also found that there was no significant difference in the daily average consumption rate of electricity in Kerala on August 5 when compared to that of August 3 and 4. According to the Kerala Electricity Board (KSEB) data, on August 5, the daily average consumption of power was 56 million units (mu). Meanwhile, the rate on August 3 and 4 was 57 mu and 57.7 mu, respectively.
Ram Mahesh, Chief Public Relations Officer, KSEB Ltd told AFWA, “Due to the low pressure that has developed over the Bay of Bengal, Kerala has been experiencing heavy rains for the last several days. A few districts in southern Kerala had power cuts on August 5 as their electric poles had got damaged because of trees and branches falling. This includes districts like Kasargod, Kannur, Calicut, Wayanad, Thrissur, and Palakkad. That is why the power consumption on August 5 came to be 56 mu. The rest of the state had no power disruption. The rumor of a blackout on August 5 was taking rounds many days ahead of the bhoomi pujan and we had already released a warning against such rumors.”
KSEB had also issued a red and orange alert for districts in northern Kerala due to heavy rains on August 5.
Hence the claim that the Kerala government imposed a total blackout in the state to prevent people from watching the Ayodhya bhoomi pujan live is false. While some districts in Kerala experienced a power outage due to heavy rain and wind, the majority of the districts had an uninterrupted power supply on August 5.
