An image claiming to show Sukmawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia’s first president, who recently converted to Hinduism from Islam, is being widely shared on social media. Newschecker’s analysis found the image misleading as it shows the conversions of Princess of Java in 2017.
Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno -one of the founding fathers of Indonesia reportedly converted to Hinduism on October 26. It must be noted that the country has the highest Muslim population in the world.
Several Twitter users shared the image saying Sukarnoputri has “returned” to Hinduism from Islam.
The image was also widely shared on Facebook, with captions welcoming her to Hinduism in English and Bengali languages.
Factcheck/Verification
In order to check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker ran a keyword search for, ‘Sukmawati Sukarnoputri conversion’ which led us to a YouTube video by Hindustan Times and a report by India Today.
A visual comparison of the woman in the viral social media posts with the woman in the report makes it clear that they are two different individuals.
Further, we ran a reverse image search on the photo shared in the viral social media posts and found links to media reports from Rebellion Voice and Current Trigger dated 2017.
Both the portals have carried the viral image with an analysis of why the Kanjeng Paramasi, the Princess of Java, converted to Hinduism.
Paramasi reportedly converted to Hinduism in July 2017 by Sudhi Wadani Ritual which is said to be “an initiation into Hinduism.”
Sukarnoputri’s lawyer has reportedly told the media that she “had been interested in Hinduism for the last 20 years and has visited major temples in Bali and read great Indian epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.”
Conclusion:
Old photo of the Princes of Java was falsely shared in the context of Sukmawati Sukarnoputri’s conversion to Hinduism.
Result: False Connection
Our Sources:
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