Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
Several Congress leaders, including Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, shared a picture of a woman holding a tube connected to a baby’s forearm as he defecates, to mock the government’s Aatamnirbhar Bharat Abhiyan
Shashi Tharoor tweeted, ‘We are experts in facing any disaster, and this is self-reliant India.’ Original text in Hindi reads, हर विपदा से लड़ने की, हम में बड़ी महारत है, ये आत्मनिर्भर भारत है, ये #आत्मनिर्भर भारत है!
We found that several other Congress leaders, including Imran Pratapgarhi and Abhimanyu Poonia, also shared the same viral image on their Twitter handles.
We also discovered that the image was also being shared on Facebook and WhatsApp with the same caption. One of our readers also sent the viral video to Newschecker’s helpline number for verification.
Fact Check
As we began fact-checking the claim, we found that several netizens calling out Shashi Tharoor for sharing the old picture. One of the Twitter users, while replying to Shashi Tharoor, claimed that the picture is from 2017 and was clicked by Amitesh Kumar. He also shared the screenshot of the Instagram post made by Amitesh Kumar, which carried out the same viral image.
With the help of relevant keywords search, we found the Instagram handle of Amitesh Kumar, who works as an Assistant News Producer with Lallantop. While analyzing his profile, we found the viral image doing rounds on social media. The image was uploaded by Amitesh on June 11, 2019, with a caption reading, ‘since several people have shared the picture, it is necessary to mention that the picture was clicked in 2017 during the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The photograph was clicked around 5.24 pm in Mirzapur.’
We then contacted Amitesh Kumar for more details. He told us that the picture was clicked by him while they were covering Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in Mirzapur on March 1, 2017. Here is a screenshot of our chat with Amitesh Kumar.
Upon our request, he also sent us the original pictures clicked by him from a different angle. The original images can be seen below.
We also found a tweet made by Saurabh Dwivedi, Editor, The Lallantop, clarifying the air on the viral picture.
Conclusion
It is evident from our fact check that the photograph shared by Shashi Tharoor and several social media users is three years old. The photograph was clicked by Amitesh Kumar, who works as a Assistant Producer with The Lallantop while they were covering Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2017.
Sources
- Google Search
- Twitter Search
- Instagram Search
- Direct Contact
Result: Misleading
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Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
