Social media users share fabricated image of Indian politician 'bowing to Rahul Gandhi'

Published on August 22, 2024 at 10:32
2 min read
By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India

An edited photo of opposition politician Uddhav Thackeray bowing to Rahul Gandhi has circulated on social media with a false claim it showed him pandering to the Indian National Congress party leader. The fabricated image surfaced as Thackeray's party was preparing to contest legislative assembly elections expected in the Maharashtra state later this year, but it was in fact created by merging two unrelated pictures.

"The greed for power can make people do anything," read the Hindi-language caption of the post shared on social media platform X on August 14, 2024.

The post also shared an image that appeared to show Thackeray -- leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT) party -- bowing and greeting Gandhi.

Screenshot of the post with the altered image

The false post surfaced as the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance -- made up of opposition groups including Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress party -- was gearing up to contest legislative assembly elections expected later this year in the western state of Maharashtra.

Indian media reported while Thackeray was pushing the bloc to name a chief minister candidate before the election, his allies said they should focus on removing the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition from power (archived link).

The same image was shared with similar captions on X and Facebook.

However, the image was created by editing two unrelated photos together.

Altered photo

One of the pictures used to create the fabricated image was published by the Indian news agency IANS on X on August 7, 2024, as part of a series showing a gathering of politicians including Thackeray and Gandhi (archived link).

The other picture was posted on X by Shiv Sena (UBT) on August 8, 2024, and showed Thackeray bowing and greeting the family of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, according to the Marathi-language caption (archived link).

Below is a comparison of the two original pictures (left) and the image in the false posts (right):

Comparison of the two original pictures (left) and the image in the false posts (right)

Shiv Sena (UBT) said on its official X account on August 15 that the photo was "fake and manipulated" and it would file a case with the police over its spread on social media (archived link).

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