A photo purporting to show Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowing down to Saudi Arabia's king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, is morphed and fake.
BOOM found that the original image shows Modi, then prime ministerial candidate bowing down to veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani in 2013 at a rally in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
Indian's diplomatic ties with Arab countries turned acerbic after BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma made inflammatory remarks about Prophet Mohammad in a television debate. Indian envoys were summoned by the Islamic countries. It also led to the suspension of Sharma and another BJP spokesperson Naveen Jindal was expelled. The image has been shared backdrop of this row.
The morphed photo has been shared with Tamil text.
(Original text in Tamil: "இந்தியாவில் அனைத்து கேவலப்பட்ட ஊடகங்களும் மறைத்த புகைப்படம்...!!")
View the Facebook post here and here.
NDTV used the photo to report that Modi was declared as BJP's PM candidate. Modi met veteran party leader Lal Krishna Advani on the stage at a public rally in Bhopal for the first time after party's decision. The image was credited to news agency Press Trust India.
The photo created a stir at that time as Advani did not acknowledge Modi's gesture but instead looked away.
Watch the NDTV's report here.
The same image was also reported by the Economic Times.
Below is a comparison of the fake and real image.
The same fake image created an uproar in April, 2016, when it was posted by a journalist, soon after the prime minister returned from Saudi Arabia, as part of his five-day three-nation tour. BJP filed a complaint against the journalist. Read Business Standard's report here.
