A photograph featuring India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is being circulated online with the false claim that it is a historic image of a woman grabbing Nehru by the collar and questioning him about his service to the nation.
BOOM found the photograph to be fake and AI-generated. An AI detection check further confirmed that the picture was generated using OpenAI tools.
Several social media users shared the photo to take a dig at current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that if a citizen questioned those in power in a similar manner today, they would be labelled a traitor and jailed, unlike during Nehru’s time.
The Claim
The picture is being shared with the caption, "Once, a woman grabbed Nehru Ji's collar right after he stepped out of Parliament. She yelled, "The country is free now, and you became the Prime Minister, but what did we get?" Nehru Ji smiled warmly and replied, "You have the complete freedom to grab a Prime Minister's collar." If someone asked a question like this to the ones in power today, they would be labelled a traitor and thrown into jail. Today's PM cannot face the citizens' voice, and he knows it very well."
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What We Found: AI-Generated Photo Circulated As A Real Image
1. No official record found: We performed a reverse image search to trace the source of the picture. However, we could not find the circulated photo along with the claim in any official records or government sources.
2. Photo created using OpenAI tools: Taking a cue, we ran the photo through multiple AI image detection tools, which indicated a high likelihood of AI manipulation. We also tested the image using OpenAI’s image detection tool, which detected a SynthID watermark originating from OpenAI and confirmed that the image was generated using OpenAI tools.