Actor and BJP MP from Mathura, Hema Malini recently launched her poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, where she was seen holding a sickle, helping women with wheat bundles in a farm. Hema Malini has been targeted on social media over the visit. Two photographs have been placed together to show how the BJP MP had supposedly arrived in a helicopter ahead of her photo-op in the wheat field.

The photo on the left shows Hema Malini seated inside a chopper. In the photo on the right, she is supposedly harvesting wheat. The above post by the Facebook page Unofficial: Dr. Arnab Goswami which has quoted a Facebook user Orijit Sen, who had posted this image. Sen’s post has now been deleted. It has a following of over 200,000. The same has been posted by another page, Drunk Journalist, shared over 1200 times within an hour of posting. Feku Express, a popular anti-Modi page on Facebook, posted this image, which garnered over 2500 shares within an hour of posting. BJP Trolls is another page which posted this juxtaposed image. All these pages posted the image almost simultaneously.

The image has also been shared by countless users on Twitter, derisively referring to Hema Malini as a ‘helicopter farmer’.

Photos from 2014 and 2015

Alt News reverse-searched both photographs and found that they are old, and not representative of Hema Malini’s recent visit to the wheat field.

The image on the left i.e. the photo of Hema Malini seated inside a helicopter, was taken in 2015. Hema Malini herself had tweeted this photo in October 2015. It was clicked at Patna.

As for the photograph on the right, Alt News found it was clicked in 2014. The photo was published by Amar Ujala in April 2014. Hema Malini had visited a wheat farm during campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha election which took place in April and May that year.

Posted below is another photograph of the same visit of April 2014.

Moreover, it may be noted that Hema Malini had worn a golden-coloured saree during her recent visit to a wheat farm, not a green-coloured saree.

Old pictures dating back to 2014 and 2015 were used to ridicule Hema Malini’s farm visit, and to falsely suggest that she had arrived in a chopper ahead of her visit to the field.

Donate to Alt News!
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.

Donate Now

About the Author

Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.