Fact Check: Child in viral image is not PM Modi
An image of mother and child is widely being shared on WhatsApp. Users identify the persons as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his mother Heeraben.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 17 Jan 2022 4:51 AM GMT
Hyderabad: An image of mother and child is widely being shared on WhatsApp.
Users identify the persons as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his mother Heeraben.
A text along with the image reads, "This is the child who shook 132 crore people. Narendra Modi with his mother Hiraben."
Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter began its investigation by performing a Google Reverse Image Search, which directed us to a post uploaded on a Facebook page of 'Maryala Srinivas'. He had shared the complete family photo.
He had stated that this part of his family picture has been going viral either in the name of the APJ Abdul Kalam or PM Narendra Modi. He said the kid in the viral image is his brother Sridhar Maryala who can be seen with his mother. He also stated that he had first uploaded this image in 2011.
The original image can be seen here which was posted in 2011.
On further investigation, we found a report published by Alt News on June 19, 2019. It had debunked the claim that the kid in the picture is APJ Abdul Kalam.
According to the report, A.P.J.M.J Sheikh Saleem, the grand nephew of Kalam and managing trustee of Abdul Kalam International Foundation (AKIF) had said that the kid in the image is not Dr. Kalam. "That's a fake photograph. We don't have any photographs of Dr. Kalam's childhood so far. Those days, Dr. Kalam's mother would not take any photographs."
We then compared one of the childhood images of Narendra Modi along with the viral image. It did not match.
Hence, the claim is False. The viral image has been doing rounds for the past several years, either in the name of APJ Abdul Kalam or PM Modi.
