As Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi nearly completes a month, the foot march which is traversing several states till it reaches Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, has already seen a fair share of misinformation around it.
BOOM has fact-checked several posts including doctored photos targeting Gandhi and unrelated videos shared with misleading claims around the Yatra.
Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra which was launched from Kanyakumari, Kerala on September 10, 2022, and is currently passing through Karnataka with several other Congress leaders joining Gandhi during the foot march which is expected to be 150 days long covering a distance of 3750 km.
We have come across several pieces of disinformation ranging from videos, photos from the foot march either edited or shared with false claims with some targeting Gandhi.
BOOM rounds up a list of such posts we have fact-checked below:
A morphed image of Union Minister Smriti Irani looking at a photograph of Rahul Gandhi on her laptop screen amidst the latter's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' was shared on social media with a false claim that Irani is keeping a close eye on Gandhi's campaign.
However, BOOM found the original photo which does not show Rahul Gandhi on Smriti Irani's laptop screen.
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The original photograph dates back to December 2020 and does not feature Rahul Gandhi on Irani's laptop screen as shown.
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Also Read:Morphed Photo Shared As Smriti Irani Watching Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra
An old image of Rahul Gandhi sitting with his niece Miraya Vadra was shared on social media with captions falsely linking it to Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'. The image, showing Gandhi touching Miraya Vadra's palm affectionately, was tweeted by Bharatiya Janata Party leader CTR Nirmal Kumar, who heads BJP Tamil Nadu unit's social media.
The tweet, which has since been deleted, was captioned in Tamil as, "Pappu is playing with children by putting mehendi on them. Feeling sad for the 10 members who are taking him to the yatra"
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BOOM found that the image of Rahul Gandhi with his niece Miraya Vadra was clicked on August 20, 2015 in New Delhi.
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Also Read:Old Image Of Rahul Gandhi With His Niece Shared With Misleading Claims
A morphed image of Rahul Gandhi sitting in front of a table with a plate of what appears to be a beef preparation was circulating on social media with false claims that he was photographed eating beef in Kerala.
BOOM found the image to be digitally manipulated. The original picture does not show any such food plate in front of the Congress leader.
We performed a reverse image search to know details about the picture and found the original photograph in a Manorama article published on September 17, 2022.
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Also Read:Photo Of Rahul Gandhi Eating Beef During Bharat Jodo Yatra Is Doctored
A video of Congress leaders from Kerala stumbling while leaving a restaurant in Kollam Kerala leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, was being shared with the false claim that they are exiting the place in a drunken state.
BOOM spoke to Ansar A Malabar, owner of Hotel Malabar where the video was shot, who denied the claim that the Kerala Congress leaders were drunk and explained that some members along with Rahul Gandhi had visited his restaurant at 8 am on September 17, 2022, for breakfast, while taking a break from the yatra.
A photo of Rahul Gandhi hugging a member of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) at the Bharat Jodo Yatra, was shared with the false claim that he met with Amulya Leona Noronha, a student from Bengaluru who was arrested for shouting 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans in February 2020.
BOOM identified the woman as Miva Jolly, General Secretary of the KSU for the Ernakulam district who dismissed the viral claim and confirmed that she is the girl in the viral photo with Gandhi taken during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ernakulam, Kerala.
An old video of Rahul Gandhi partaking in an aarti in Rajkot, Gujarat was cropped to falsely claim that the Congress leader refused to perform the Hindu ritual when he was passed the aarti plate recently.
The cropped video was being shared with the caption linking it to the Bharat Jodo Yatra saying, "The way Rahul Gandhi denied to take Aarti and perform the rituals... He again proved from which commun!ty he belongs #Navratri #BharatTodoYatra"
BOOM found that the viral video has been cropped and in the original video Rahul Gandhi is seen performing aarti after which he passed the aarti plate to those standing next to him. This portion has been left out of the video to make the misleading claim.
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Also Read:Cropped Video Falsely Shared As Rahul Gandhi Refusing To Perform Aarti
A photo of a girl gifting Rahul Gandhi a portrait of Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot during Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra is edited and fake.
BOOM found that the original photo shows the girl gifting Gandhi a portrait of himself, and not of Pilot as being claimed on social media.
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Also Read:Edited Photo Shared Claiming Sachin Pilot's Portrait Gifted To Rahul Gandhi
8) No, Video Does Not Show Pakistan Flags Waved At Bharat Jodo Yatra
A video of a group of people holding Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) party flags was being shared on social media with the false claim that it shows Pakistan flags being waved at Congress Party's Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi.
BOOM found that the flags in the viral video claimed to be Pakistani flags, are actually the party flag of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
On observing the flag in the video, one can clearly see that there are visible differences between the flags of Pakistan and the IUML party flag.