An image of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat seated next to AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has been shared on social media. The accompanying Hindi caption reads, “Owaisi arrived at Mohan Bhagwat’s home to prepare Hyderabadi khichdi.” In other words, it is implied that the two held a meeting ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
मोहन भागवत के यहां हैदराबादी खिचड़ी बनाने पहुंचे ओवैसी? pic.twitter.com/4UZTg896rm
— 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 (@IndiaAwakened_) January 16, 2022
Several Twitter users have shared the image.
The photo was also circulated on Facebook.
Morphed image
Alt News performed a reverse image search and found the photo on a few news articles from December 2021. However, in these images, Mohan Bhagwat is not sitting next to Asaduddin Owaisi, but Mulayam Singh Yadav. According to India Today, the image was taken during the wedding reception of vice president Venkaiah Naidu’s granddaughter. Bhagwat is greeting cabinet minister Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Meghwal had himself tweeted the image earlier as Mohan Bhagwat giving him birthday wishes.
राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के परम पूज्य सरसंघचालक मा. @DrMohanBhagwat जी से आज जन्मदिवस के अवसर पर आत्मीय भेंट करके आशीर्वाद लिया।आपका स्नेह, सहयोग, मार्गदर्शन, सदैव कर्तव्य पथ पर चलते हुए माँ भारती की निरंतर सेवा करने की प्रेरणा देता है। pic.twitter.com/Df01oETcKM
— Arjun Ram Meghwal (@arjunrammeghwal) December 20, 2021
UP Congress had called out Samajwadi Party over the image which led to SP retaliating against the attack. Aaj Tak quoted SP national general secretary Professor Ramgopal Yadav as saying that those unfamiliar with social etiquette do not know Indian culture and keep reading into things unnecessarily. He added that if two people attend an event, they would converse with each other out of courtesy.
Furthermore, there have been no reports of Mohan Bhagwat and Asaduddin Owaisi meeting.
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