Viral: 2013 image of Congress Haryana rally shared as recent Rahul Gandhi rally in Bikaner - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
11th October 2018 / 6:11 pm
An image captioned “इंदिरा के पोते ने तोड़ दिया इंदिरा का रिकॉर्ड (Indira’s grandson breaks Indira’s record)” was shared by Facebook page Rahul Gandhi for PM, claiming that a crowd of 25 lakh gathered during Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Bikaner, Rajasthan. The post attracted over 14,000 shares at the time of writing this article.
इंदिरा के पोते ने तोड़ दिया इंदिरा का रिकॉर्ड
Posted by Rahul Gandhi For PM on Wednesday, 10 October 2018
The photograph was shared with the identical narrative from other Facebook pages as well – कटिहार युवा कांग्रेस and I am Congress We are Congress. Individual users on Twitter also circulated the imagery.
Alt News reverse searched the image on Google and found that it pertains to a rally addressed by former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda in Sonepat in 2013.
The original image was shot by Getty Images for Hindustan Times. It is available on the website of Getty Images, captioned as – “SONEPAT, INDIA – NOVEMBER 10: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda addresses Haryana Shakti Rally at Gohana on November 10, 2013 in Sonepat, India.”
Congress President Rahul Gandhi indeed addressed a rally in Bikaner ahead of the state elections scheduled to be held on December 7. But the viral image does not pertain to the aforestated event and is an attempt to mislead social media users.
This wasn’t an isolated incident of Facebook page Rahul Gandhi for PM circulating misinformation in favour of the Congress. In July this year, it falsely claimed that Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha speech was seen by 48 lakh viewers. Alt News, however, found that Lok Sabha TV does not produce any data concerning the viewership of the channel.
Rahul Gandhi for PM had also shared fake news suggesting that former US President Barack Obama endorsed Rahul Gandhi for prime ministership. In multiple other instances, it ascribed false quotes to BJP leaders, including Ravinderjit Singh, Ashiwini Chowbey and Sambit Patra.
Despite being called out in the past, the Facebook page continues to peddle disinformation. It is pertinent that posts shared by Rahul Gandhi for PM are not taken at face value and cross-checked for verification.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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