Unrelated photo shared as Indira Gandhi inviting Kiran Bedi after the famous car towing incident - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
23rd April 2019 / 9:26 pm
A photograph of Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was tweeted by a handle named Know Legacy of All India Mahila Congress. The message posted along with the photograph claims, “Rare to find leaders like Indira Gandhi When Kiran Bedi booked a challan on PM’s vehicle for wrong parking, Indira ji invited her for lunch personally at PMO to honor her fearless commitment towards duty”. It suggests that Gandhi had invited Bedi for lunch after the latter had booked the Prime Minister’s vehicle for illegal parking in Delhi.
Rare to find leaders like Indira Gandhi
When Kiran Bedi booked a challan on PM’s vehicle for wrong parking, Indira ji invited her for lunch personally at PMO to honor her fearless commitment towards duty pic.twitter.com/F4TQIwcD9J
— Know Legacy of All India Mahila Congress (@AIMCHistory) April 21, 2019
This claim was reiterated with the same photograph by many other individuals on Twitter.
Rare to find leaders like Indira Gandhi
When Kiran Bedi booked a challan on PM’s vehicle for wrong parking, Indira ji invited her for lunch personally at PMO to honor her fearless commitment towards duty ! Hats 🎩 off . @khushsundar @BhavikaKapoor5 @sardesairajdeep @yasminsana11 pic.twitter.com/xql6Z3y2g7
— Mir Anjum Hyder (@AnjumINC) April 21, 2019
Alt News found that the photo featuring Gandhi and Bedi has been placed out of context by social media users who have circulated it. It pertains to a meeting when Gandhi had invited Bedi for breakfast after the former saw Bedi leading the Republic Day parade in 1975. This photograph was also tweeted by Bedi in 2014.
Remembering Mrs Indira Gandhi.She invited me for Breakfast after she saw me leading 26th Jan’ Parade in 1975 pic.twitter.com/792wka1QHs
— Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) October 31, 2014
For the longest time, Kiran Bedi was popularly referred to as “Crane Bedi”, with the claim that she personally towed Indira Gandhi’s car. It may be noted that in the past, Bedi’s Twitter bio itself had the claim, “Towed PM’s car for Traffic violation”. The issue came to fore again in the run-up to the 2015 Delhi assembly election when Kiran Bedi was announced as the BJP’s CM candidate. Kiran Bedi in an interview with NDTV (2015) had clarified that it was SI Nirmal Singh who actually towed the car by saying, “Sub-inspector Nirmal Singh towed it away”. At the time of the incident, Bedi was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic in Delhi.
An article published by NDTV in 2015 stated, “In 1982, an ambassador car that belonged to then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s office was parked at the wrong spot and towed away by sub-inspector Nirmal Singh.” In the video posted below, the relevant part can be heard.
In conclusion, the photograph now viral on social media is unrelated to the alleged incident of Kiran Bedi towing the Prime Minister’s car, and represents an occasion when Bedi was invited for breakfast at the Prime Minister’s residence.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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