We came across this video circulating on Twitter:

According to the caption, Rishi Sunak, the newly elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was filmed performing his “spiritual/traditional” rituals before entering his new office. Sunak, who is Hindu had previously taken his oath as a Member of Parliament in 2019 on the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu sacred text.

Another post on Facebook described the video as a ritual to “invoke the spirit of success”.  When we investigated the claim however, we found that while the video was authentic, the post had been miscaptioned.

The video originated from 2020,  where Sunak, who was Finance Minister at the time was lighting candles outside 11 Downing Street as part of Diwali celebrations. While the video is legitimate and not doctored in any way then, the claim that Rishi Sunak was performing “spiritual/traditional” rituals before entering his new office as Prime Minister is false.