Several news outlets, sitting and former Union ministers, and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, falsely shared an image of the Paramvir Chakra as the newly named Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
The image was shared by Union ministers Som Parkash, Narendra Singh Tomar, Parshottam Rupala, former minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, news outlets Dainik Jagaran, India TV, Zee News, several official handles of the BJP, along with several other BJP leaders and members.
Following the recent medal victories in the Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 6, that the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award will now be called Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.
"I have been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand. I thank them for their views. Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award!" Modi tweeted.
Following Modi's post, there was a surge in posts congratulating the Olympic players, and thanking Modi for taking such a step to recognise their victories. Among these posts, we found several that carried the image of the Paramvir Chakra.
You can find an archive of the posts by Ramesh Pokhriyal, Som Parkash, Narendra Singh Tomar, Parshottam Rupala, Sambit Patra, BJP Madhya Pradesh, Zee News, Dainik Jagaran, India TV, K. Annamalai, Varun Jhaveri, Punit Agarwal and Man Aman Singh Chhina, here.
The Paramvir Chakra is the highest military award in India, given for distinguished wartime acts.
Fact Check
After the posts started pouring in, several social media users starting pointing out that the image of the medal being shared is actually the Paramvir Chakra and not the Khel Ratna Award.
BOOM went to the website of Indian Air Force, and found a page on Paramvir Chakra award, with a photo of the medal. We found that it did indeed match the image of the medal being shared by the accounts.
We also found that the actual Khel Ratna award looks a lot different. Since the name of the award has only recently been changed, existing images of the award still contain the text "Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna", with an image of the Ashok Stambh.
