Authors
Online users shared an image of a tweet allegedly from Rahul Gandhi’s official Twitter handle addressing PM Narendra Modi about India’s win at the Tokyo Olympics.
The screenshot of Gandhi’s alleged tweet shows Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra standing on the victory stand with his other winning opponents. The caption in this screenshot reads, “First aake bhi dusre number pe khada hona kya sahi hai? Jawab do modiji”
In English, this caption translates to, “Even after coming first is it right to stand in the second position? Answer, Modiji”
An archived version of the claim can be viewed here.
Landing his spear at 87.58m, Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the men’s Javelin throw event on 7 August. The 23-year-old from Panipat became the first Asian man to win the competition at the Olympics as well as the first Indian track and field athlete to become an Olympic champion, reported India Today.
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Fact Check / Verification
The viral screenshot’s date and timestamp gave away that this may be a manipulated image. Chopra won the Olympic gold on 7 August, while the screenshot’s date shows 5 August.
We further browsed through Rahul Gandhi’s official Twitter handle (@RahulGandhi) to verify if he indeed tweeted on 5 August as seen in the claim. We found that on 5 August at 4:51 pm Gandhi congratulated Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya who won the silver medal at Tokyo Olympics.
A comparison of the viral screenshot and Gandhi’s actual tweet from his official handle on 5 August at the 4:51 pm timestamp can be seen below.
Apart from this, Gandhi congratulated the Indian men’s hockey team on their Olympic win and tweeted images en route to the Parliament with hashtag #SansadGherao on the same day.
On 7 August, Gandhi congratulated Neeraj Chopra for his Olympic win in two Facebook posts. One of his captions read, “Neeraj Chopra take a bow! A billion hearts beat for you today and each one of us couldn’t be more proud. #Tokyo2020”
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Conclusion
The viral screenshot claiming to be from Rahul Gandhi’s official Twitter handle asking PM Modi for an answer related to the Tokyo Olympics is morphed.
Result: Manipulated Media
Our Sources
Rahul Gandhi’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1423242774615265283
Rahul Gandhi’s Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/rahulgandhi
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