Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Several social media users, including verified Twitter handles, are circulating a picture of Rahul Gandhi with a woman clicked at the Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. Users who shared the image identified her as Amulya Leona Noronha, who had raised “Pakistan zindabad” slogans during an anti-CAA protest event attended by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi. While many took potshots at the yatra, calling it an association of anti-nationals, Newschecker has found that the woman in the image is not Amulya Noronha, but someone else.
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here, here, here and here.
Who is Amulya Noronha?
Noronha, a journalism student, was arrested for sedition on February 20, 2020, in Bengaluru after she had raised “Pakistan zindabad” slogans on stage during a speech at an anti-CAA rally organised by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
Fact check
Newschecker first noticed that the woman in the viral photo did not resemble Amulya Leona Noronha. Upon doing a reverse image search of the viral photo, we were led to this Facebook post, dated September 24, from the Bharat Jodo Yatra, captioned “Hope”, by Miva Jolly. Jolly had shared the photo that was posted by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on September 22.
From her Facebook bio, we learnt that Jolly is a District General Secretary at Kerala Students Union (KSU), the state’s student wing of the Congress. We ran keyword searches for the terms “Miva Jolly KSU”, throwing up multiple results and videos that confirmed the woman in the viral picture is Miva.
From her Facebook, we were led to her Instagram account, where she posted the same image on September 22. She also posted a video of her march with Rahul Gandhi on September 23.
Congress spokesperson Lavanya Bhallal also took to Twitter to dismiss the claim, saying that the person in the photo is “Miva Jolly our GS Ernakulam of KSU”. The claim was also dismissed by Kerala Pradesh Congress Sevadal.
Update: We further found a video statement by Miva on Facebook clarifying that the woman seen in the viral image was her and not Amulya Noronha.
Conclusion
The woman seen in the viral photograph with Rahul Gandhi at the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not Amulya Leona Noronha, who had raised “Pakistan zindabad” slogans during an anti-CAA protest in 2020, but KSU leader Miva Jolly.
Result: False
Sources
Facebook post by Miva Jolly, September 24, 2022
Tweet by Lavanya Ballal, September 24, 2022
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
