A photo of Congress workers at an Onam celebration is viral with a false claim that at an event for Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary, his son's image was used.
BOOM found that the photo dates back to at least 2022. We also identified and spoke to the man seen lighting the lamp in the viral image who confirmed that the picture was taken at an Onam celebration organised by members of Kerala Congress in Thiruvananthapuram.
Former prime minister and Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, with local units of the political party holding memorial events in his honour every year.
In the viral image, a framed portrait of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seen placed on a table with a garland, with a person lighting a lamp placed in front of it. It is viral with the caption claiming the event was Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary in Wayanad, where instead of Rajiv, his son Rahul's picture was used.
One such caption claims, "Place: Wayanad, Kerala. Venue: Office of the district Congress Committee. Occasion: Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary. Reality check: In the State with 100% literacy, these learned jokers don't even know who's the father and who's the son, or who's there and who's no more".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on the photo and found posts from 2022 featuring the same image.
Click here to view one such post and here for an archive.
The viral claim indicated the location as Kerala, using this we reached out to members of the Kerala unit of Congress who identified the man seen lighting the lamp in the picture as party workers Vinod Sen.
BOOM spoke to Sen, an advocate by profession in Thiruvananthapuram who clarified that the photo was not related to the death anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. "This photograph is going viral claiming it is from Wayanad, but it is actually from Thiruvananthapuram. It was taken at least five years ago, even before the Bharat Jodo Yatra started. The picture was clicked in the Tirupuram panchayat area at a 'Kisan Market' event organised as part of the Onam celebrations," Sen said.
Sen added that Gandhi's photo was placed near the lamp since it was a Congress event. He also identified that the other person to his left (back to the camera) is SK Ashok Kumar, secretary of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
Inputs by Srijit Das