Several social media users are sharing a post in which a man could be seen saying out loud, “sadak nahi chahiye, roti nahi chahiye…mandir chahiye”, has now died of Covid due to lack of oxygen in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. The man in the viral video is indentified as 41-year-old Jitendra Gupta, a resident of Patparganj in East Delhi.
The clip of the video was very popular in 2019 and became a viral meme of the year. This man is from Scoop Whoop’s 2019 video where a man in a dramatic way said, “Pehle mandir chahiye, Sadak nahi chahiye, roti nahi chahiye…mandir chahiye” (which translates in English as, “First we need Temple, We do not need roads, we do not need food, we need temple”). He had made the above remark at a rally called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad demanding the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
Netizens started mocking that the man has passed away due to coronavirus as there is no adequate health infrastructure in India. People are ridiculing him by saying that he wanted the construction of the Ayodhya Ram temple instead of healthcare facilities, and now he is dead as the healthcare infrastructure has collapsed in the nation during the second wave of coronavirus pandemic.
Gupta said that he is healthy and the claim being made on social media is false. The viral footage has been taken from a ScoopWhoop video uploaded in 2019 and Gupta can be heard speaking at 41 seconds. Gupta filed a complaint with the cyber cell of the Madhu Vihar police on Tuesday, 18 May, regarding the viral claims on social media. Gupta,said, “I am alive, fit and fine. My family is disturbed. For the past three days, my family members have not slept properly as people are calling and asking about my death.” Gupta further added, “The claim is false. I haven’t visited Lucknow. I haven’t contracted COVID either and I am healthy and well. My wife and I got our first dose of vaccination on 15 May,” He also said that according to the viral claims Gupta died in Lucknow, but he has never been there and is a resident of Delhi.
Meanwhile, Ravinder Negi, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, in a post called out the viral claim and said that the man in the viral video is his friend and social worker Jitu Gupta, who lives in New Delhi’s Patparganj area. He said that Gupta is alive and healthy and does have any kind of illness. He added that the misinformation has caused much stress to his family and that “people shouldn’t stoop so low”. Negi posted, “Those who have declared a living man dead for demeaning Hindu religion must feel ashamed. My friend Jitu Gupta Ji is a social worker from Patparganj Vidhan Sabha Delhi, who is completely fit and fine. He has no disease and is at his home. Someone has published a rumour of his death. We will file an FIR against the one who has created the hoax.”
Therefore, the claim is certainly fake and based on groundless rumours.
