Photo morphed to claim RSS paying respect to Queen Elizabeth during freedom struggle

A black and white photo that purportedly shows RSS volunteers paying respects to the Queen of England has been circulating on social media. It shows a group of men dressed in the RSS uniform standing in a line as the Queen passes in front of them.

Facebook user ‘Aap Ka Brijesh Yadav‘ shared this picture with the caption “Britain Mata ki Jai. This photo was very difficult to get my hands on, let’s make sure it reaches every phone. Let’s make sure everyone knows who the biggest traitors to the country are. Some traitors were saluting the Queen of England while the rest of the country was up in arms against the British. I have heard that their descendants call themselves patriots.”

A Facebook page called ‘सच्चाई की आवाज़‘ (Sachai Ki Awaz) also shared the image and wrote, “Traitors are only capable of betrayal”. It received close to 500 likes.

Fact-check

We performed a reverse image search of this image after cropping out the portion containing the text and found the original version in a Deccan Herald report from February 2015. While the RSS workers are visible here, there is no one walking in front of them. Clearly, the viral image has been edited. The Times of India also carried it in a 2017 story.

We also searched for the image of the Queen and found the original photo in a 2016 article by CNN. Queen Elizabeth II is seen inspecting men of the newly renamed Queen’s Own Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force, at Kaduna Airport in Nigeria. The picture was captured during her Commonwealth Tour in February 1956.

The viral image was created by editing these two photos, as shown below.

SM Hoax Slayer had also debunked this image in 2016 when Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam had shared it while targeting the RSS.

It is noteworthy that Elizabeth II took over as the Queen of England in 1952 after her father King George VI passed away. She wasn’t the Queen when India gained Independence in 1947.