Navy Day in India is observed every year on December 4 to celebrate the accomplishments of the Indian Navy. Several BJP accounts and leaders have shared a poster featuring a Naval ship with the hashtag #NavyDay – Rambhai Mokariya, Janak Chamar, Dr Anil Bonde, Rajiv Babbar, Vinod Chavda, Tankadhar Tripathy, Jaskaur Meena, Gaurishankar Bisen and Mukesh Patel.
It was also shared by BJP Maharashtra.
Several Congress leaders and accounts also shared the same image of a naval ship.
Picture of US naval ship
A Google reverse image search revealed that the ship in the picture is US Navy’s Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship. In 2010, Stars and Stripes captioned the image, “Defense secretary Robert Gates has called for 55 Littoral Combat Ships, which are designed to operate in shallow, or littoral, waters.”
The official website of the US Navy said, “The Littoral Combat Ship would be designed as a focused-mission, modular, surface combatant smaller than a FFG but larger and more capable than a PC or MCM ship. LCS was envisioned to be an independently deployable, theater-based ship, capable of changing primary missions through modular Mission Package.”
Therefore, an image of US Navy ship was tweeted BJP Tamil Nadu and several leaders of the party to celebrate Indian Navy Day.
Same image shared across political specturm in past years
The same image was shared BJP Tamil Nadu last year.
04 டிசம்பர் இந்திய கடற்படை தினம்#NavyDay2020 pic.twitter.com/KoiQ29xVok
— BJP Tamilnadu (@BJP4TamilNadu) December 4, 2020
BJP MP Vijay Baghel shared the same picture while expressing gratitude to Indian naval soldiers.
देश के जल सीमा की रक्षा करने वाले भारतीय नौ सेना के वीर जवानों के अदम्य साहस और समर्पण को सलाम। @indiannavy#NavyDay2020 #IndianNavyDay pic.twitter.com/2IYyf5NEdh
— VIJAY BAGHEL (@VijayBaghelCG) December 4, 2020
Other BJP members who tweeted the image were MLAs Krishna Gaur and Sunil Deshmukh. BJYM Madhya Pradesh president Abhilash Pandey also joined the bandwagon.
Akali Dal spokesperson Manjinder Sirsa too shared the image.
On Dec 4, 1971, Indian Navy successfully executed Operation Trident causing huge damage to Karachi port in Indo-Pak war. Indian Navy’s fleet sank four Pak vessels ravaging the Karachi harbour fuel fields
We celebrate the day to hail the role of @indiannavy #NavyDay #NavyDay2020 pic.twitter.com/MKKbhXBJcC
— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) December 4, 2020
And so did TRS MLA Devireddy Sudheer Reddy.
మన స్వేచ్ఛ, మన రక్షణ కోసం తీర ప్రాంత సరిహద్దుల్లో పోరాడే వీరులకు, ధీరులకు ఇవే నా జోహార్లు. భారత నౌకా దళం దినోత్సవం శుభాకాంక్షలు.#NavyDay #NavyDay2020 pic.twitter.com/pftZz8oDdv
— Devireddy Sudheer Reddy (@D_SudheerReddy) December 4, 2020
Congress had tweeted the same image of a combat ship on Navy day in 2019. It was later taken down from their timeline.
It was also tweeted by Lt. Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi with the message, “we salute all the women and men in the #Navy for their bravery, dedication and patriotism.”
Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje posted the image in 2019 to commemorate the day on Twitter.
Adding to the list was state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan News that put out a tweet with the same photo.
In 2017, the official Twitter handle of Bharatiya Janata Party had tweeted the photograph on Navy Day.
Greetings on Indian Navy Day. Let’s wear Armed Forces flag with honour and pride. Contribute generously to the ‘#ArmedForcesFlagDay Fund’ to assure our soldiers that the entire nation cares for them & their families. https://t.co/sFwfNCgrcA pic.twitter.com/PHtqYm9QZU
— BJP (@BJP4India) December 4, 2017
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