A video of a man wearing a Sikh turban getting baptised to admit him into Christianity is viral with a false claim that he is newly appointed Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
Channi, a Congress leader was named chief minister in September after then CM Amarinder Singh resigned from his post following a bitter feud with Navjot Singh Sidhu. Amarinder Singh's resignation came months before the state is set to go to Assembly polls. Channi who is said to be close to Sidhu had rebelled against Singh claiming he had not fulfilled Congress' previous election promises.
The video is being shared with the false claims that it shows the Punjab CM has converting to Christianity with captions that say, "Punjab CM Chiranjit is being Baptized. He's not only a Dalit, but also a Christian. Probably, only Christian CM of Punjab"
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the man in the video is not Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi but a man identified in the video as Simranjit Singh.
Upon watching the video, we found at the at counter of 10 seconds the priest who is conducting the baptism ceremony says, "To baptise those who are believing, I baptise, Simranjit Singh as Samuel..."
We further compared Channi's photo with the man seen in the video and found no similarities between them.
Charanjit Singh Channi, 58, is said to be the first Dalit leader to be elected as chief minister of Punjab. There have been several posts on right wing pages claiming Channi practices Christianity. BOOM could not independently verify the claims about the Punjab CM's religious affiliation.