{"id":104048,"date":"2021-09-28T14:20:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T08:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=104048"},"modified":"2021-09-28T14:20:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T08:50:04","slug":"old-image-falsely-shared-as-sonia-gandhi-was-sitting-while-manmohan-singh-and-congress-leaders-were-made-to-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/old-image-falsely-shared-as-sonia-gandhi-was-sitting-while-manmohan-singh-and-congress-leaders-were-made-to-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-check: Was Sonia Gandhi seated while Congress leaders stood during meeting?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A photo of Sonia Gandhi sitting on a chair with Manmohan Singh and a few other leaders standing around her is circulating widely on social media. Users are posting the image and claiming that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was made to stand while Gandhi had occupied the only chair in the room. A Facebook user named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid=227391286074018&amp;id=100064094447266\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mohan Sharma<\/a> shared it with the same claim.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104049 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-5.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"503\" height=\"681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-5.png 503w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-5-222x300.png 222w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 503px) 100vw, 503px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Twitter user Gulshan Sha had tweeted the photo with the same claim back in 2020. (<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210925105952\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Gulshanjha_IND\/status\/1269175492994891778\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archive link<\/a>)<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"hi\">\u092f\u0939 \u092b\u094b\u091f\u094b \u0924\u092c \u0915\u093e \u0939\u0948 \u091c\u092c \u092e\u0928\u092e\u094b\u0939\u0928 \u0938\u093f\u0902\u0939 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0927\u093e\u0928\u092e\u0902\u0924\u094d\u0930\u0940 \u0925\u0947<\/p>\n<p>\u092a\u0942\u0930\u0947 \u0939\u0949\u0932 \u092e\u0947\u0902 \u090f\u0915\u092e\u093e\u0924\u094d\u0930 \u0915\u0941\u0930\u094d\u0938\u0940 \u0939\u0948 \u091c\u093f\u0938 \u092a\u0930 \u092e\u0939\u093e\u0930\u093e\u0928\u0940 \u090f\u0902\u091f\u094b\u0928\u093f\u092f\u094b \u092e\u093e\u0907\u0928\u094b \u092c\u0948\u0920\u0940 \u0939\u0948 ,\u092c\u093e\u0915\u0940 \u0938\u092d\u0940 \u0917\u0941\u0932\u093e\u092e \u0916\u0921\u093c\u0947 \u0939\u094b\u0915\u0930 \u092e\u093e\u0932\u0915\u093f\u0928 \u0915\u0947 \u0939\u0941\u0915\u094d\u092e \u0915\u093e \u0907\u0902\u0924\u091c\u093e\u0930 \u0915\u0930 \u0930\u0939\u0947 \u0939\u0948\u0902\u0964 \u092f\u0939 \u0925\u093e \u0926\u0947\u0936 \u0915\u0947 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0927\u093e\u0928\u092e\u0902\u0924\u094d\u0930\u0940 \u0915\u093e \u0939\u093e\u0932 \u0964\u0939\u0930\u093e\u092e\u0940 \u092c\u093e\u0924 \u0915\u0930\u0924\u0947 \u0939\u0948\u0902 \u092e\u094b\u0926\u0940 \u0915\u0947 \u0939\u091f\u093e\u0928\u0947 \u0915\u0940\u0964<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AntoniaMaino?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AntoniaMaino<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nmv3DH8Kut\">pic.twitter.com\/nmv3DH8Kut<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u0917\u0941\u0932\u0936\u0928 \u091d\u093e \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf3 (@Gulshanjha_IND) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Gulshanjha_IND\/status\/1269175492994891778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It is widespread on <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210925105952\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Gulshanjha_IND\/status\/1269175492994891778\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%87%20%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%89%E0%A4%B2%20%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%8F%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%20%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%80%20%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%88%20%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B8%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%20%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80%20%E0%A4%8F%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%A0%E0%A5%80%20%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%88%20&amp;src=typed_query&amp;f=top\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104050 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-53.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"810\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-53.jpeg 810w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-53-300x152.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-53-768x389.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We also received a few requests to fact-check the picture on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160).<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-104048 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/old-image-falsely-shared-as-sonia-gandhi-was-sitting-while-manmohan-singh-and-congress-leaders-were-made-to-stand\/screen-shot-2021-09-25-at-1-36-35-pm\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"621\" height=\"293\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-25-at-1.36.35-PM.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-25-at-1.36.35-PM.png 621w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-25-at-1.36.35-PM-300x142.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/old-image-falsely-shared-as-sonia-gandhi-was-sitting-while-manmohan-singh-and-congress-leaders-were-made-to-stand\/screen-shot-2021-09-25-at-1-38-16-pm-2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"531\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-25-at-1.38.16-PM.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-25-at-1.38.16-PM.png 531w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-25-at-1.38.16-PM-300x193.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<h4><strong>Misleading claim<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>After a closer look at the viral image, we noticed chairs behind Dr Manmohan Singh and the others. They have been highlighted below. Apart from this, Sonia Gandhi is seated as if she was just about to stand up or just sat down. It also appears that the rest of the ministers present just stood up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104052 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-54.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-54.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-54-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Alt News performed a reverse image search and found the original picture in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/politics\/telanganas-creation-will-take-6-months-heres-how-it-will-work-998091.html?FP_Source=FP_Hi_DT_TS_Wgt_998091&amp;FP_Medium=FP_Hi_Topstories_140940\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Firstpost article<\/a> dated July 30, 2013. It states that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a meeting in New Delhi on the formation of Telangana. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Kamal Nath and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi were in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>We also found a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneindia.com\/2013\/07\/31\/in-pics-how-telangana-became-a-reality\/articlecontent-pf2327-1272200.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One India News report<\/a> from July 2013 through a keyword search. It contains a few pictures of the meeting held at the Prime Minister&#8217;s residence. It is noteworthy that the other dignitaries are seated in one of these photos.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-104048 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/old-image-falsely-shared-as-sonia-gandhi-was-sitting-while-manmohan-singh-and-congress-leaders-were-made-to-stand\/2021-09-25-16_38_01-in-pics_-how-telangana-became-a-reality-how-telangana-became-a-reality\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"751\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/2021-09-25-16_38_01-In-pics_-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-How-Telangana-became-a-reality.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/2021-09-25-16_38_01-In-pics_-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-How-Telangana-became-a-reality.jpeg 751w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/2021-09-25-16_38_01-In-pics_-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-300x286.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 751px) 100vw, 751px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/old-image-falsely-shared-as-sonia-gandhi-was-sitting-while-manmohan-singh-and-congress-leaders-were-made-to-stand\/2021-09-25-16_38_26-in-pics_-how-telangana-became-a-reality-how-telangana-became-a-reality\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"755\" height=\"747\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/2021-09-25-16_38_26-In-pics_-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-How-Telangana-became-a-reality.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/2021-09-25-16_38_26-In-pics_-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-How-Telangana-became-a-reality.jpeg 755w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/2021-09-25-16_38_26-In-pics_-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-How-Telangana-became-a-reality-300x297.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>As shown below, there are several similarities between the image in the article and the viral photo. All the leaders are sitting in their respective seats thus, the claim that only Sonia Gandhi was given a place to sit is false.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104054 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-55.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"810\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-55.jpeg 810w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-55-300x120.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/word-image-55-768x307.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Photos targeting Sonia Gandhi and portraying a misleading representation of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindi\/?s=%E0%A4%A1%E0%A5%89.+%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%A8+%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%B9+%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE+%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A7%E0%A5%80+\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">circulated with false claims<\/a> in the past as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A photo of Sonia Gandhi sitting on a chair with Manmohan Singh and a few other leaders standing around her is circulating widely on social media. Users are posting the image and claiming that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was made to stand while Gandhi had occupied the only chair in the room. A Facebook [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":104060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[693],"an_content_type":[739],"coauthors":[664],"class_list":["post-104048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-featured","fact_checks_claim_type-viral-photos","an_content_type-fact-check"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/09\/FAKE-1-5.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104048"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104067,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104048\/revisions\/104067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104048"},{"taxonomy":"an_content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/an_content_type?post=104048"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=104048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}