Pan-India Alcohol Ban And Other News You Almost Believed

In this week’s News You Almost Believed, we bring you the truth behind viral photos and videos.

A photo purporting to show a television news graphic about a pan India ban on alcohol, is being shared on social media. The social media post has used a template of Hindi news channel Aaj Tak along with a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But BOOM found no order banning alcohol pan-India issued by the Central government. Read the story here.

A black and white photograph of a toddler with his mother is viral on social media with the claim that it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s childhood photograph along with his mother Heeraben Modi. But a Google reverse image search which threw up several news articles identified the toddler as Former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam with his mother Ashiamma Jainulabiddin. Read the full story here.

A video of Rahul Gandhi showing him comforting an old woman while being surrounded by anguished people is viral on social media with a claim that several people who travelled to Delhi from Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) to meet Gandhi broke down following his loss in the Lok Sabha elections. But the video is from 2017 When Rahul Gandhi went to meet the kin of the victims of a boiler blast in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. Read the full story here.

A video of Mamata Banerjee walking out of the West Bengal state Assembly to chants of Jai Shri Ram is viral on social media. But BOOM found that while the video was originally shot in February this year in front of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, the audio of Jai Shri Ram is not part of the original video. The audio is from a similar incident and has been overlaid into the viral video. Read the full story here.

A video of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) found in a hotel room is being shared as an incident from the recent Lok Sabha elections. BOOM found the video is from November 27, 2018, a day before the MP started aseembly polls and not from the general elections. Read the full story here.