Video claiming Hindus breaking solar panels for insulting the Sun God is not true
Images and videos are being posted on social media claiming that Hindus from Rajasthan, India, are breaking solar panels after hearing that the Sun God has been insulted. However, verification reveals that this claim is false, and the video is old. In 2018, workers in Maharashtra vandalized solar panels because they were not paid their wages. That video is now being spread with the wrong claim. It has no connection with insulting the Sun God.
A page named Message Entertainment BD posted a 35 second video with the caption, “Common people in India are breaking government solar panels because they think the Sun God is being insulted.” Inside the video, it is written, “India, Rajasthan. Some Hindus heard that solar panels insult the Sun God (Surya Dev). So they are breaking the panels to help the Sun God!”
The same video with the same caption was also posted by a page named Mr. Bangladeshi. The video shows many solar panels arranged in rows. Several men and women are vandalizing the panels together. At 4 and 21 seconds into the video, a man can be seen climbing on top of a solar panel and breaking it. A photo of a man similar to him has also been circulated on Facebook with the same claim (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Verification of this video led Dismislab to a YouTube video more than 7 years old. The title of the video says, “Solar Modules at 100 Mw solar plant in Maharashtra destroyed due to non payment of wages.” The video matches the one shared on Facebook with the false claim.
At that time, the Indian media also published reports on this incident. In a 2018 video report by Go News 24×7, it was said, “Employees of a solar plant in Maharashtra’s Chalisgaon, vandalise the solar panels as a protest against non payment of their wages.” The same vandalism scenes are seen in that report. That means, the incident has no connection with solar panels being broken due to insulting the Sun God.
Earlier, the same video also spread in India with the same false claim. In a report published on May 1 this year, Indian fact-checking outlet Factly said that some social media posts claimed a Hindu priest advised vandalizing solar panels, because solar power causes trouble for the Sun God.
This same video also went viral in 2018 with similar claims. At that time, it was said that BJP MP Ashok Saxena claimed solar power makes the Sun God unsatisfied. So, BJP workers/supporters were vandalizing solar panels. But in a report by Indian fact-checking outlet Alt News, it was shown that there is no BJP MP named “Ashok Saxena,” and the claim is false.
The same video was also claimed to be from Nigeria in 2023. At that time, a post on X said that solar panels stop rain and cause drought, so a community was destroying solar panels. AFP Fact Check published a fact-check report on that as well.
