Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
Claim:
National President of Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila Morcha and Chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Women Vijaya Rahatkar shared two pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that the two pictures are 3 decades old. In one of the two pictures shared by her, first picture claims that PM Modi protested for the abrogation of Article 370 three decades ago and now he has fulfilled his own ideological commitment. In the second picture, she claims that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met Pakistani refugees three decades ago.
These are 3 decades old photos
Pic1 : Agitation against Art 370
Pic2 : Mtng with Pak refugeesHe delivered what He strongly believed
Not easy 2 take such hard decisions when merchants of psuedo secularism calling shots; but unadulterated ideological commitment made it easier! pic.twitter.com/VSu0mOLfXO
— Vijaya Rahatkar (@VijayaRahatkar) January 1, 2020
Verification:
Since there are two claims in the aforementioned tweet, we decided fact checking them one by one.
Fact-Check of the first claim made by Vijaya Rahatkar
As we began to fact check the claim, we first performed a reverse image search which led us to many articles published by several media outlets as BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav shared old picture of PM Modi in the wake of abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.
The first report we found was published in Times Of India. The report informs about a tweet made by Ram Madhav post abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.
‘Promise fulfilled’: Ram Madhav tweets PM Modi’s old photo of protest against Article 370 | India News – Times of India
India News: As Amit Shah announced in Rajya Sabha on Monday the Centre’s decision to repeal Article 370, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav took to Twitter to sugg
Furthermore, we also found a report published in NDTV which reports the same tweet as of Times of India.
Ram Madhav Tweets PM’s Old Photo, Says “Promise Fulfilled” On Article 370
Shortly after Home Minister Amit Shah announced the scrapping of the contentious Article 370 in parliament today, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav made a dramatic statement on Twitter, posting an old photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an Article 370 event with the message: “Promise fulfilled”.
We also found a report published in Times Now which further backs the claim made by Vijaya Rahatkar.
Hence we reached the conclusion that the first claim made by Vijaya Rahatkar is true.
Fact-Checking the second claim made by Vijaya Rahatkar
The second claim made by Vijaya Rahatkar in her tweet is already debunked by us. The said picture in which PM Modi can be seen meeting some people is not the one in which PM Modi met Pakistani refugees. The picture was captured in early 80s when PM Modi was asked to visit villages in Gujarat as an RSS worker. We found the same picture on PM Modi’s personal website. The picture is posted with a description which is as follows, “His travels across Gujarat continued and increased through the early 1980s. This gave him the opportunity to visit every Taluka and almost every village in the state. This experience came very handy for him both as an organiser and as the Chief Minister. It gave him a first hand view of the problems people face and increased his resolve to work harder to solve them. When droughts, floods or riots struck he would lead the relief efforts too.”
Narendra Modi was happily immersed in his work but the elders in the RSS and the newly formed BJP felt otherwise, they wanted him to take on more responsibility and in 1987 another chapter began in Narendra Modi’s life. From then on, he was as much on the streets as he would be formulating party strategies. He would have to work with Party leaders and sit with Karyakartas.
The boy from Vadnagar who left his home to serve the nation was about to take another giant step, but for him it was merely a continuation of his journey to bring smiles on the faces of his countrymen and women. After a Yatra to Kailash Mansarovar, Narendra Modi got down to work as the General Secretary in the Gujarat BJP.”
Now, nowhere in the description it is mentioned that PM Modi was meeting refugees. In fact, the description describes in detail the context of the aforesaid picture.
The claim is previously debunked by us, our Hindi fact check of the same claim can be viewed below.
नरेंद्र मोदी की वर्षों पुरानी एक तस्वीर को भ्रामक कैप्शन देकर किया गया शेयर
सोशल मीडिया पर नरेंद्र मोदी की एक पुरानी तस्वीर वायरल हो रही है। तस्वीर में नरेंद्र मोदी कुछ गरीब बुजुर्गों से मिलते नजर आ रहे हैं। दावा है कि तस्वीर में दिख रहे लोग पाकिस्तानी हिन्दू शरणार्थी हैं जिनसे मिलने के लिए नरेंद्र मोदी गए थे। तस्वीर के साथ वायरल हो रहे दावे की जाँच के लिए हमने पड़ताल आरम्भ की। – नरेंद्र मोदी की वर्षों पुरानी एक तस्वीर को भ्रामक कैप्शन देकर किया गया शेयर
Hence, we reached the conclusion that the second claim made by Vijaya Rahatkar is ‘Misleading’.
Result: First Claim is true.
Second claim is ‘Misleading’.
Sources
Google Search
Reverse Image Search
Narendra Modi’s Personal Website
Media Reports
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Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
