An old French video from 2018 is shown as a celebration of Ganesh Chathurthi in Holland !
Claim
Holland is known to be the world’s Orange capital. They too celebrate Vinayaka Chaturthi. Holland is said to be the capital of oranges in the world. See how they celebrate Vinayaka Chaturthi.
Rating
Explanation
A video of a Lord Ganesh sculpture made of oranges is widely shared by some sections of the right wing and the Bharatiya Janata Party to claim that Holland also celebrated Ganesh Chathurthi by making a Ganesh Statue using oranges.
Holland is known to be worlds Orange capital.
They too celebrate Vinayaka Chaturthi pic.twitter.com/uDXhIJf5iC— RP Singh National Spokesperson BJP (@rpsinghkhalsa) September 4, 2022
Holland is the orange capital of the world. Every year the celebrate Ganesh festival with their produce. pic.twitter.com/OeMdWgrjnq
— Shrinivas G. Kulkarni (@kulkarnisg01) August 30, 2020
Ganesh Chaturthi 2019: Arjun Rampal Shares Video Of Ganesha Idol Made Of Oranges In Hollandhttps://t.co/cu2fVaN9cF#GaneshChaturthi #ArjunRampal #Holland #FridayThoughts pic.twitter.com/H0B2EMJVlH
— NDTV Food (@NDTVFood) September 6, 2019
What’s the truth ?
In our search, we found that the video is not actually from Holland and this video is not from 2022 either. This was taken in 2018 and it was from Menton, France. The Hindu God Ganesha sculpture was made of lemons, not oranges.
85th Lemon Festival in Menton, France took place from February 17 to March 4, 2018. The theme of the festival was “Bollywood”. Hence many references to India, and Hinduism were made. On that note, a sculpture made of lemons for the Hindu God Ganesha was put up at the event. This video is wrongly attributed to Holland with a claim that they celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi/Vinayakar Chathurthi.
A worker on a mobile elevating platform checks a sculpture of Hindu deity Ganesh, made of lemons and oranges, on the eve of the 85th Lemon Festival, in Menton, southeastern France, on February 16, 2018. The ‘Bollywood’ themed festival runs from February 17 to March 4, 2018. pic.twitter.com/FupwdoAeJx
— PO BAG 1 (@pobag1) February 17, 2018
In our search through the internet, we also found that similar claims were made in 2021. In a bizarre twist, we found that this story has been going on since 2018.
A Hindu god made from oranges and lemons… only at the #FeteduCitron in Menton! See what other sculptures they have made > https://t.co/gEEWyCL2MQ #travel pic.twitter.com/wkOkVjhiqt
— France Magazine (@Francemagazine) February 25, 2018
We found a 2018 tweet from NDTV Food with a hashtag Ganesh Chaturthi and a caption mentioning that this was taken in Holland, which is also not true.
Similarly, we were able to find tweets with almost identical claims from 2019 and 2022 as well. So, this video was definitely not from 2022 and not from Holland. The UK-based news outlet, The Telegraph, has uploaded a photo of the sculpture on the eve of the 85th Lemon Festival in Menton further cementing that this incident is from 2018.
Conclusion
The Ganesh sculpture made of oranges was not built in Holland as opposed to the widespread claim. It was indeed made out of lemons at 85th Lemon Festival in Menton, France.
