Gandhinagar: A Gujarati news channel has broadcasted it and number of people have tweeted, retweeted, liked it, posted it on Facebook and shared it online, but the video is fake.

A video has some people playing Raas, a traditional dance of Gujarat which is played along with Garba during nine-night festival of Navratri every year.

It is claimed that a person playing Dandiya with Gandhi topi headgear in video is former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. It is also claimed that video is from Bhadeli village of South Gujarat from year 1962.

However, those who have read and studied Morarjibhai can easily say this is not him in video. Also this style of Raas is not prevalent in South Gujarat.

DeshGujarat contacted Morarji Desai’s great grandson Madhukeshwar Desai, who after watching this video confirmed this is not Morarji Desai.  Apart from other things, he observed that Morarjibhai would always wear Chudidar. And it’s not just about dress. Height, body structure, complexion everything is different than how Morarji Desai looked.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that this video is a personal marriage ceremony in Mumbai (1994). Late Kunvarji Narshi Lodaya (incorrectly referred as Morarji Desai in social media) was from Kothara, Kutch (resided in Ghatkopar, Mumbai) and his brother Mulji Narshi Shah (Age 83, currently residing in Malad, Mumbai) played a unique type of Dandiya dance pattern known as ‘Dhamal’.

“This dance form involves majestic moves between players with sit and stand movements. This form involves lot of focus and constant bending skills. It is our unique family tradition, which we continue to embrace. We do possess various video tapes with their end to end dance. We do appreciate the support on the dance form and are working with our next generation to keep the dance form alive” as said by Chandrakant Lodaya (son of Late Kunvarji Narshi Lodaya) and Mulji Narshi Shah.

According to a family member, ‘this video was in circulation among family members in Whatsapp group as they were wishing to replicate the steps. It however was forwarded by some family member outside the group after which it was found in circulation in name of Morarji Desai, the former Prime Minister.’

DeshGujarat