Fact Check: Morphed photo of RSS members with Queen Elizabeth II shared with false claim
An image that reportedly shows members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu organization, with Queen Elizabeth II
By Newsmeter Network Published on 21 Sep 2021 3:11 AM GMT
Hyderabad: An image that reportedly shows members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu organization, with Queen Elizabeth II is going viral with the claim that the RSS members were saluting the Queen when India was fighting for its independence.
The viral image shows the Queen walking in front of a row of men who are dressed in the uniform that RSS members wear while attending their shakha (branch) activities. The photo contains a text that upon translation reads, "When the whole country was up in arms against the British there were few traitors who were busy saluting the Queen of England. Their descendants call themselves patriots now."
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Fact Check:
The claim is false.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found that the photo had been used as a representational image by Nagpur Today on 14 August 2013 and Deccan Chronicle on 22 January 2015 in RSS reports.
Another reverse image search led us to photos of the British Queen in a report carried by The Times in 2018 and by Getty Images. The image is from 2 February 1956 and was taken in Nigeria. It is captioned, "Queen Elizabeth II inspects men of the newly-renamed Queen's Own Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force, at Kaduna Airport, Nigeria, during her Commonwealth Tour, 2nd February 1956."
A side-by-side comparison of the original images and the viral image clearly shows that the viral image has been morphed.
Thus, the claim that the photo shows RSS members saluting Queen Elizabeth II is false.
