Did Rahul Gandhi pay last respects to Sushma Swaraj's entire family? Photoshopped tweet viral - Alt News
Kinjal
10th August 2019 / 12:23 pm
“राहुल गांधी ने सुषमा स्वराज के निधन पर ट्वीट कर सुषमा जी के परिवार और उनके चाहने वाले सभी लोगों को दे डाली श्रृद्धांजलि. देश की सबसे पुरानी पार्टी के कुल दीपक के अद्भुत ज्ञान को नमन। (On Sushma Swaraj’s death, Rahul Gandhi paid last respects to her and her entire family. Bowing down to the wisdom of the heir to the largest party in the country),“ reads a message viral on social media.
राहुल गांधी ने सुषमा स्वराज के निधन पर ट्वीट कर सुषमा जी के परिवार और उनके चाहने वाले सभी लोगों को दे डाली श्रधांजलि
इस सड़कछाप को श्रद्धांजलि देने का भी ज्ञान नहीं है ।।
Posted by Shyam Sunder Bhatt on Wednesday, 7 August 2019
The claim that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi paid last respects to not only Sushma Swaraj but her entire family after her demise was furthered using a screenshot of an alleged tweet by Gandhi which said – “लोग उनको काफी सम्मान करते थे। उसके परिवार और चाहने वालों को श्रद्धांजलि। (She was immensely revered by people. A tribute to her and her family.)”
Alt News has also received fact-check requests on its app.
The first clue which suggested that the screenshot is ingenuine is that the alleged tweet’s Hindi text did not match the contents of Rahul Gandhi’s original tweet, which clearly stated – “My condolences to her family in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace.”
I’m shocked to hear about the demise of Sushma Swaraj Ji, an extraordinary political leader, a gifted orator & an exceptional Parliamentarian, with friendships across party lines.
My condolences to her family in this hour of grief.
May her soul rest in peace.
Om Shanti 🙏
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 6, 2019
Furthermore, the top right corner of the viral screenshot carried a blurred logo of Delhi Aaj Tak. Though unclear, the logo can be made out upon close analysis.
We found that Delhi Aaj Tak’s August 7 broadcast flashed Rahul Gandhi’s tweet multiple times during the program. However, the channel ran his tweet as it is, without a Hindi translation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhyGaW_Clwo
The screenshot below shows one of the portions of the broadcast where Rahul Gandhi’s tweet was flashed by Delhi Aaj Tak. As evident, the media outlet broadcast his English tweet.
For further corroboration, Alt News contacted Delhi Aaj Tak executive editor Shams Tahir Khan who informed that the channel did not broadcast the tweet viral on social media. He told us, “This has been morphed by someone. This is apparent just at first glance because we use a different font. We cross-checked the time in the screenshot when the tweet appears with our broadcast and found that we did not flash anything of the sort at that time.”
In conclusion, the Delhi Aaj Tak screenshot flashing an alleged tweet by Rahul Gandhi is a work of photoshop.
Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.
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