Photo Of Arvind Kejriwal Holding A Bow And Arrow Incorrectly Is Morphed

A morphed photograph of Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal holding a bow and an arrow in a reverse direction pointing towards himself is viral with a false claim that he was targeting himself while taking an aim at a Ravana effigy.

BOOM found the image to be digitally altered. The original photograph shows Kejriwal holding the bow and arrow in the correct direction during the Dussehra celebrations at the Red Fort ground in New Delhi.

The 'Ravana Dahan' is a Hindu ritual performed during Dusshera celebrations to get rid of evil and demonic forces. The ritual includes burning of the ten-headed demon Ravana's effigy to celebrate Hindu god Rama's victory.

The Hindi caption with the picture translates to, "It is the misfortune of the country that the arrow did not shoot or else there would have been welfare."

(Original Text in Hindi: देश का दुर्भाग्य कि तीर चला नहीं वरना कल्याण हो जाता।)

Click here to view the post.

Click here to view the post.

BOOM also received the photo on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906588) for verification.

Fact Check

BOOM performed a reverse image search on the photo and found the original one on an Indian Express article published on October 6, 2022. The original photograph shows the AAP leader holding the bow and the arrow in correct direction in contrast to the claims made by the viral posts.

Here is a comparison between the viral picture and the image published on the Indian Express article.

The Indian Express article reports that the picture is taken from Arvind Kejriwal's official Twitter account when he was attending Dussehra festivities on October 5, 2022 at the Red Fort ground in New Delhi. The report also includes a tweet by the AAP leader carrying a video of the event.

Taking a cue, we went to Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) official YouTube channel where the event was streamed live on October 5, 2022.

Kejriwal shooting an arrow aiming at the effigy of Ravana can be watched from 44:01 minutes to 45:14 minutes timestamp. Kejriwal can be seen holding the bow and arrow in the correct direction.