Image shot ahead of 2019 general polls viral as PM Modi’s Bihar election campaign rally

In the middle of the ongoing polls in Bihar, a few images of a crowd gathered in large numbers have been going viral on Facebook and Twitter. It’s being claimed that the pictures are from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent rally in the state. The accompanying Hindi caption mocks people who were amazed by the massive crowd at Tejashwi Yadav’s rally but only showed concern for social distancing when a large number of supporters gathered at PM Modi’s rally. (archived link)

A Facebook page called ‘Sanjay Mishra BJP’ also posted the pictures with this claim. (archive link)

Twitter user @Nationfirst0012 tweeted one of the viral photos with the same caption.

Fact-check

A closer look at the three viral pictures makes it clear that they are all the same image. Apart from this, not a single person can be seen wearing a mask here. Alt News performed a reverse image search and found the viral image shared on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s website on March 3, 2019. According to the website, these were taken at a rally in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan.

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Ahead of last year’s Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Modi had organized rallies across the country as part of the BJP’s campaign efforts. During this campaign, he addressed voters in a Sankalp rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, the capital city of Bihar, on March 3, 2019.

The venue in Sasaram where the Prime Minister’s recent rally was conducted is contrastingly different. For starters, it is covered by a shed. Visuals of the rally can be seen in this Aaj Tak video report dated October 23.

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Therefore, an image shot ahead of Lok Sabha polls last year has been falsely shared as PM Modi’s Bihar election campaign rally.