Authors
In the past month, Andhra Pradesh (AP) witnessed multiple accounts of temples and idols of deities being vandalised. More recently, images were shared on Twitter with a claim that an illegal cross in Edlapadu, AP is being built near a Hindu worship site. This site of worship in Edlapadu is claimed to include Sita’s footprint.
One such claim shared by Andhra Pradesh BJP State President, Somu Veerraju reads, “Place where SitaMata’s footprints, Carvings of Narasimha Swamy existed once is now converted into Huge illegal construction at Edlapadu. All this is happening with the support of Administration and @ysjagan Government.”
Veerraju’s tweet was liked nearly 1.6K times and retweeted around 940 times till th4 March 2021.
Andhra’s BJP State General Secretary, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy also shared a similar Twitter post which reads, “In Edlapadu (Andhra Pradesh) a place where Sita Mata’s foot print was existed & carving of Lord Narasimhama was there is illegally captured by conversion mafias & an illegal cross built at that place. No place for Hindus in AP under @ysjagan govt,attacks on Hindu temples continues.”
Joining them AP BJP’s National Secretary, Sunil Deodhar, also shared the claim on 2 March, which reads, “See huge illegal Cross in Edlapadu, AP where once foot prints of #SitaMaa existed. Carving of Lord Narasimhama exists at back. In Guntur Dist Christian mafias have created havoc. @BJP4Andhra & @friendsofrss protested but administration tacitly supported. #Encroachment4ChristInAP”
Also read: Andhra CM YS Jagan Reddy Claims Paracetamol Can Cure Coronavirus. Is it True?
Fact Check/ Verification
Newschecker reached out to Yedlapadu’s police officer Sri Hari who clarified that the claims made by the above stated BJP officials are false. Hari further said that the cross in context is about half a kilometer away from the Hindu site. Also the location of this site does not involve any association with Hinduism.
In addition to this, the cross was not made recently. It has been more than a week, Hari added.
We also found a video related to the viral claim on the official Twitter account of Guntur Rural District Police. The video clarifies that the claim is false and shows the location of Sita’s footprint. Translated to English, the video explains, “You all can see that there is no cross mark at this place. Both places are at a great distance from each other.”
Tweeted on 2 March 2021, Guntur Rural District Police’s post reads, “They are completely 2 different hillocks and there is absolutely NO encroachment of the hill where Narasimha Swami idol is there. check videos by our SHO. Request to use Twitter to spread love, unity and peace..”
A tweet from District Collector Guntur further clarified the claim in context by replying to AP BJP’s National Secretary, Sunil Deodhar’s Twitter post.
It read, “As reported by the SP Rural Guntur and Sub Collector, the allegation that the Cross was erected where Sita Maata footprints and carvings of Lord Narsimha existed is not true. The hill with Sita Maata footprints is different from the hill which has the Cross.”
You can read this claim in our Hindi fact-check as well.
Conclusion
The claims made by AP BJP leaders that a cross was being illegally built at a Hindu worship site in Edlapadu are false. The site with Sita’s footprints is in a different location from that of the cross.
Result: Misleading
Our Sources
Yedlapadu’s police officer Sri Hari
Guntur Rural District Police: https://twitter.com/GntRuralPolice/status/1366731570736889858
District Collector Guntur: https://twitter.com/CollectorGuntr/status/1366733366767149057
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