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.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Screenshot of a newspaper clipping from a San Francisco-based newspaper criticising Rahul Gandhi following his visit to the US.
Fact
No such report by a San Francisco-based newspaper, viral screenshot found to be a digital translation of a Hindi news article.
Several social media users are circulating a screenshot of a newspaper clipping with an image of the leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, purportedly headlined, “Americans are asking is Rahul from India or Pakistan?(sic)”
Sharing the image, users claimed that the report was published in a San Francisco-based newspaper, and added, “They wrote this because the way he was talking about India, it sounded like an enemy of India can only speak like that. What a shame.(sic)” The image has gone viral amid the significant political uproar over Gandhi’s recent trip to the US.
The archived version of the post can be seen here. We received this claim on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044), too, requesting us to fact-check it.
Rahul Gandhi’s US Visit Under Scrutiny
Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a figure with a history of contentious positions, has particularly drawn fire from the BJP, according to reports. Gandhi’s visit, meant to bolster ties between the two nations, is now overshadowed by past controversies involving Omar, and also his inflammatory remarks on Sikh rights and reservation policies in India.
Fact Check
Newschecker noticed the inconsistencies in the fonts and text sizes, along with the grammatical errors, across the purported report, which suggests that it may have been digitally altered or a translated version of a report in another language. We also ran a relevant keyword search, which did not throw up any such news report from a foreign publication.
Newschecker then ran a keyword search for the Hindi translation of the headline, “अमेरिकी पूछ रहे हैं कि राहुल भारत से हैं या पाकिस्तान से?,” which led us to this tweet, dated June 5, 2023. A similar tweet, sharing the same Hindi newspaper clipping can be seen here.
We then ran the Hindi newspaper clipping past the translate tool in Google Lens, where one can see the headline is the same seen in the viral screenshot.
This is how the rest of the article read upon translation:
Americans are asking, is Rahul from India or Pakistan?
San Francisco, May 31 (Agencies).
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is on a six-day visit to America. As soon as he reached foreign soil, Rahul’s crazy nonsense started again. Rahul’s anti-India statements are being heard with great pleasure in America and sarcasm is being made against such a representative of India. Americans are sarcastically asking whether Rahul Gandhi has come from India or Pakistan? While talking to Indians in San Francisco, Rahul Gandhi said that Muslims are being attacked in India. Rahul then also said that whatever is happening to the Muslims in India today, had already happened to the Dalits in 1980. It is noteworthy that in 1980, Congress was in power in the country. Speaking unbridled, Rahul said that Muslim children are being sent to jail in India. Rahul Gandhi appeared so full of hatred towards Prime Minister Narendra that he even said that Modi can tell even God what to do…
The translated text matches the viral newspaper report, proving that it was the Hindi article translated as there were no font inconsistencies. We ran the Hindi article past another similar tool, which further confirmed that the viral screenshot was of a Hindi article translated to English.
Also, the date of the viral article was May 31, which was most likely referring to Rahul Gandhi’s visit to San Francisco last year, reported by multiple media outlets, seen here and here, stating that Gandhi was on a three-city tour of the United States, with two days each in San Francisco, Washington DC and New York.
Although we could not ascertain the source of the Hindi article, we can confirm that the report was not published by a San Francisco-based newspaper.
Also Read: Video Of Dalit Youth Being Humiliated Shared As ‘Hindus Torturing’ Muslim Teen
Conclusion
A screenshot of a Hindi news report, digitally translated to English, falsely shared as an article by a San Francisco-based newspaper criticising Rahul Gandhi.
Result: False
Source
Image analysis
Google Lens
Tweet, June 5, 2024
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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.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
