A viral image on Facebook showing women holding placards that read “Modi Chor” ("Modi is a thief"), is fake.
The original photo was clicked at the launch of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Ranchi, an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and was later digitally manipulated to add the words on the placards held by the women in attendance.
The photo is going viral with the caption, “1st time in 70 years #AyushmanBharat #PMJAYluanch in Ranchi with #ModiChorHai Placard”.
Hindi website The Lallantop fact-checked the photo and found that the edited photo had been shared on various Facebook pages such as 'The Headline' where is received 8.2k shares and 'Azamgarh Express.'
While the page The Headline has deleted the said post, it can still be seen on Azamgarh Express where it received 6,500 shares and on a page called ABMB where it has been shared more than 20,000 times.
A Twitter page called 'RahulGandhisfan', which has more than 36,000 followers, also tweeted the photo with the same caption.
BOOM also found the photo shared by a user Chandrashekhar Rajput who refused to delete it despite being informed by netizens that the photo was fake.
1st time in 70 years #AyushmanBharat #PMJAY luanch in Ranchi with #ModiChorHai Placard #Mera_PM_Dalaal_Hai #Mera_PM_Chor_Hai #RafaleModiKaKhel #RafaleScam pic.twitter.com/SRufIfNoJI
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhisfan) September 23, 2018
BOOM was able to find the original photo on the verified Twitter handle of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) which shared it on September 23, 2018. The photos were clicked in Ranchi, at the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana programme held in Ranchi on the same date.
In the MohFW photo, the women can be seen holding placards which have the logo and the name of the scheme on it.
The photo tweeted by MohFW have been featured in news articles by Firstpost and Aajtak about the launch.
Enthusiasm seen as people gather for launch of #AyushmanBharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana #PMJAY by Prime Minister Sh @narendramodi at #Ranchi today.@PMOIndia @JPNadda @NITIAayog #SwasthaBharat pic.twitter.com/6RVfi9eRen
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) September 23, 2018