Photo altered to show Indian politician with 'How to convert India into Christian nation' book
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on June 10, 2021 at 11:00
- 2 min read
- By AFP India
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Multiple Facebook posts share an image purportedly showing the leader of India’s main opposition party, Sonia Gandhi, with a book titled “How to convert India into a Christian nation” on her shelf. The claim is false: the image has been doctored; the original photo, a screenshot from a video uploaded on her party’s official Twitter account, shows there is no such title on Gandhi’s bookshelf.
The misleading image shows Sonia Gandhi, the leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, in front of a bookshelf. A book called “How to convert India into a Christian nation” is visible behind her, alongside a copy of the Bible and a statue of Jesus.
The caption of the Facebook post, translated from Hindi says: “Look at the true nature of this toxic woman. In the bookshelf behind, there is a book titled, ‘How to convert India into Christian nation’. If, after this, anyone else has any doubt, surely they cannot be Hindu.”
The altered image has been shared alongside the same claim by multiple accounts, for example here, here, here and here.
Sonia Gandhi has often been a subject of controversy and disapproval for being the only foreign-born politician in India. Gandhi was raised in Italy as a Roman-Catholic, before she married former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and moved to India. Her religion and heritage have made her the subject of similar false claims before.
The claim that Gandhi has a book on her shelf titled ‘How to convert India into Christian nation’ is false.
The misleading image has been doctored from a screen grab taken by Indian news outlet Press Trust of India (PTI) from this video of Gandhi, uploaded by the official Twitter account of Indian National Congress.
The video shows Gandhi addressing the people of the eastern Indian state of Bihar on October 27, 2020, a day before the state’s Legislative Assembly elections.
बिहार की पवित्र और ऐतिहासिक धरती को मैं नमन करती हूं। आज बिहार में सत्ता और अंहकार में डूबी सरकार अपने रास्ते से अलग हट गई है।
— Congress (@INCIndia) October 27, 2020
कांग्रेस अध्यक्षा श्रीमती सोनिया गांधी जी का बिहार की जनता के नाम संदेश।#SpeakUpBihar pic.twitter.com/J3dTstuK4L
In the original video, there is no book about converting India to Christianity, nor is there a Bible and statue of Jesus.
A news article by Indian news outlet Hindustan Times also features the unaltered image of Gandhi.
Below is a side by side comparison of the altered image (left) and the PTI image, taken from the video.
Multiple Google searches also show that no book with this title has been published.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
