The official X accounts of Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal and Tripura posted a photo of a metro on an elevated line recently, misleadingly claiming that it shows the development of metro railway services achieved by the BJP-led government in India.
BOOM found that the photo is from Jurong East MRT station in Singapore. The image was published on a website run by the Singapore government, promoting the country's transportation convenience to the global community.
The graphic is being circulated to criticise the development that took place before 2014 when the Congress-led government was at the Centre.
The photo has been shared with a Bengali caption that translates to, "If the employment did not increase, how did the metro service reach the cities of India? Congress will say, BJP will do!"
(Original Text in Bengali: কর্মসংস্থান না বাড়লে কীভাবে ভারতের শহরে-শহরে পৌঁছে গেল মেট্রো পরিষেবা? কংগ্রেস বলবে, বিজেপি করবে!)
The graphic further claims that metro services were available in five cities in 2014, while in 2024 metro services are available in 20 cities.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on the photo using Google Lens and found that it was published on a Singapore government website promoting the country's transportation convenience to the global community.
The image was shared in the 'Living in Singapore' section with the caption, "Imagine living in a country where the old coexists harmoniously with the new, where skyscrapers are nestled comfortably against nature trails."
Below is a comparison of the image published on the Singapore government website and the image posted by the BJP handles.
We also found that a similar image was published by the Singapore-based outlet The Straits Times, featuring visuals matching those in the original photo. The outlet stated that the image in their article features visuals from Jurong East MRT.
Following that lead, we ran a keyword search related to 'Jurong East' on the stock photo website Getty Images and came across several photos from that location. Below is one of the photos taken by photographer Roslan Rahman from the international news agency AFP in 2016.
