Social media users have shared a video alongside a false claim it shows the interior of the Shri Ram temple -- hailed as one of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's election promises -- in northern India. However, the claim is false. The clip was actually filmed at a cultural centre in Nagpur city in western India. The Shri Ram temple was still under construction when the false claim circulated.

"Inside view of Shri Ram temple Ayodhya," reads the caption with the clip shared here on Facebook on September 17, 2023.

The video shows the inside of a building adorned with paintings of Hindu deities on its walls.

The posts have surfaced as Nripendra Misra -- head of the temple's construction committee -- said the building would be inaugurated in January, ahead of India's next general elections expected in early 2024 (archived link).

The temple has been a decades-old election promise of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has also become a symbol of conflicts between Hindi and Muslim communities in India.

India's top court ruled in 2019 that the site -- where a 16th-century Babri mosque stood before it was destroyed by a mob in 1992 -- must be handed over to a trust to oversee the construction of a Hindu temple.

The mosque's destruction sparked communal riots that left more than 2,000 people dead. AFP reported an Indian court acquitted top BJP leaders in 2020 that took part in the deadly demolition.

The video was shared here and here on Facebook; and...

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