Did Sonia, Rahul Gandhi ‘disrespect’ ex-PM Manmohan Singh in meetings with foreign leaders?

Old pictures showing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi meeting heads of other countries’ foreign representatives have resurfaced on social media. The pictures show Sonia and Rahul Gandhi seated next to foreign leaders while ex-PM Manmohan Singh sits on the side. A collage of such pictures is being shared with suggestive claims that the Gandhi family disrespected the former Indian PM for 10 years. Several social media users also called it a “mockery of Indian democracy”.

X user ‘Squint Neon’ (@TheSquind) made similar claims while sharing these images, calling it an insult to the then-PM Manmohan Singh. (Archived link)

Another X user, Lolflix (@Lolflix), also shared the pictures with the caption, “Guess who was India’s Prime Minister?” (Archived link)

X user Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree), who often shares posts promoting the BJP, also shared the pictures. “The man in the blue turban was India’s Prime Minister for 10 years,” this person wrote in the caption. (Archived link)

Fact Check

There were a total of four images in the posts by social media users. We looked at each separately.

Image 1: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi

A reverse image search of this picture led us to a post by news agency ANI from April 26, 2017. The accompanying caption said that Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met former PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi in Delhi pic.twitter.com/N5x7OzEeku

— ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2017

Note that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was elected to power for a five-year term in 2004 and then again in 2009. So, Manmohan Singh served two terms as Prime Minister—between 2004 and 2014. In other words, this picture is from after Manmohan Singh’s term as PM. At the time, Sonia Gandhi was the Congress president.

Image 2: Sri Lankan PM Wickremesinghe with Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi

A reverse search of this image led us to an article on The New Indian Express site from November 24, 2017. The report says that Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The report added that she was accompanied by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma.

Thus, this picture is not from Manmohan Singh’s time as Prime Minister. At the time, Sonia Gandhi was the president of Congress.

Image 3: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh

We found the third picture in a National Herald report from January 26, 2019. The image was credited to senior Congress leader Anand Sharma. The report says that Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met South African President Ramaphosa.

Anand Sharma’s X post from 2019 said that a Congress delegation led by then president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Ramaphosa. In 2019, Manmohan Singh was neither the PM nor heading the Congress. At the time, Rahul Gandhi was the president of the Opposition party.

Image 4: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with Sonia Gandhi, Anand Sharma and Manmohan Singh

After a reverse image search, we found the same image used in a WION report from October 5, 2019. The report states that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other party leaders, including Anand Sharma and former PM Manmohan Singh. At this time, Sonia Gandhi was the interim Congress president.

Thus, photos of meetings between foreign delegates and Congress leaders have resurfaced with misleading claims that Manmohan Singh was ignored by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. These images were after Manmohan Singh’s tenure as PM and were led, on the Congress’s side, by whoever was the party president. Singh was not meeting them as the Indian PM but as a Congress leader.

Since these meetings were between foreign leaders and the Opposition party, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi were seated in the centre as they were the Congress presidents at the time.