Britain's Queen Elizabeth II reacts as she waits to thank local volunteers and key workers for the work they are doing during the coronavirus pandemic and over Christmas in the quadrangle of Windsor Castle in Windsor, west of London, on December 8, 2020. (AFP / Glyn Kirk)

Doctored image shared alongside false claim about Indian right-wing group saluting Queen Elizabeth II during fight to end British rule

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 22, 2020 at 04:40
2 min read
By AFP India

An image has been shared in multiple Facebook posts alongside a claim it shows members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian right-wing organisation, saluting Queen Elizabeth II during the fight for independence from British rule. The claim is false; the image has been doctored from another photo showing Queen Elizabeth II visiting Nigeria in 1956.

The photo was published here in a Facebook post on January 29, 2020.

A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post taken on December 21, 2020

The post’s caption in Hindi translates to English as: “Long live the Queen of Britain.”

The Hindi-language text superimposed on the image translates to English as: “Long live the Queen of Britain, it was very difficult to find the picture, send this to everyone to show who is a traitor. When the entire country was fighting against the British, then some of these RSS traitors were saluting the Queen, and their descendants call themselves patriots.”

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is a right-wing organisation in India.

“Queen of Britain” refers to Queen Elizabeth II.

The photo was also shared here, here and here on Facebook alongside a similar claim.

The claim is false: the image is actually a composite picture of two different photos.

The photo of the Queen inspecting the Guard of Honour was published here on Twitter on November 24, 2018.

The caption reads: “Queen Elizabeth II inspects the Nigerian Army of the Royal West African Frontier Forces (Queen's Regiment) during her visit to Nigeria in 1956.”

Below is a screenshot of the Twitter photo:

The other photo of RSS workers standing in a queue has been published by various Indian news websites, for example here on Deccan Chronicle and here on the Times of India.

Below is a screenshot of the photo:

Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne in February 1952, almost five years after India gained independence from Great Britain on August 15, 1947.

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