Fact Check: Anti-Kejriwal graffiti on Delhi auto rickshaw? Viral image is edited
Social media users are using an image of an auto rickshaw to claim that Delhi voters are going against Kejriwal
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 2 Nov 2024 6:39 AM GMT
Claim: The viral image shows an auto rickshaw with graffiti that reads, ‘Get Kejriwal out of Delhi.’
Fact: The claim is false. The text was digitally added.
Hyderabad: Prominent opposition leader and former chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, recently resigned after securing bail in a high-profile corruption case related to a now-repealed alcohol policy.
Kejriwal’s resignation has opened the path for senior Delhi minister Atishi to take over as the new head of the government. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been working to steady its base and prepare for the upcoming elections, slated for early next year.
In this political backdrop, an image of a rickshaw with graffiti in Hindi that says ‘Get Kejriwal out of Delhi’ has gone viral on social media.
A Threads user shared the image with the caption, “Losing core supporters.”
The image, which shows a CNG rickshaw supposedly on a busy Delhi road, was shared on multiple social platforms including here and here. (Archive 1, Archive 2)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The text on the auto was digitally altered.
Through a reverse image search, we found a website called The Secretariat, where the same image of the auto was published in an article titled ‘Allowing Autos to Carry Both Passenger and Cargo Can Benefit Drivers and the Gig Economy’ on November 16, 2023.
This indicated that the photo was old.
The text on the auto in the article was also different from the one seen in the viral image. The Hindi text here read, ‘Ayush Gupta | Akansha | When will you come home’. The article is about changing laws to permit autorickshaw drivers to carry freight, which could increase their earnings, support the gig economy, and meet India’s expanding logistics demands.
Further investigation led us to the same image published in the Wikimedia Commons directory, dated April 9, 2013.
The directory was titled ‘Auto-rickshaw in Delhi,’ and it showed the same auto rickshaw with the original Hindi text.
Here is a comparison of the original image and the viral one. Additionally, the license plates confirm that the image was taken in Delhi.
We also found that a ‘Fevicol ad’ has also used the same image but modified the text on the auto to ‘Don’t come closer.
You will get stuck’. The meme was shared by a Facebook user on February 6, 2018.
Hence, the viral image of an auto in Delhi with anti-Kejriwal graffiti is edited.
