Old image of minister Kiren Rijiju passed off as his recent visit to Tawang
A photo of Union minister of law and justice Kiren Rijiju is doing the rounds with the claim that it shows him meeting Indian soldiers at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, following the recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 19 Dec 2022 12:41 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A photo of Union minister of law and justice Kiren Rijiju is doing the rounds with the claim that it shows him meeting Indian soldiers at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, following the recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops.
On 17 December, Zee News, Times Now, All India Radio, and the right-wing website OpIndia shared the photo claiming that it shows the minister's recent visit to the Yangtse area in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang.
The photo went viral after Mr. Rijiju shared it on 17 December 2022. He slammed Rahul Gandhi for questioning the Central government over the India-China clash that took place on 9 December. He tweeted, "Yangtse area in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh is fully secured and Rahul Gandhi is insulting the Indian Army and damaging the nation's image."
Fact Check
NewsMeter noticed that several Twitter users were claiming that the image shared by Mr. Rijiju is old. Taking this as a cue, we performed a reverse image search and found the same photo along with two other photos posted by the minister on his official Facebook account on 29 October 2019. According to the caption, the photos were shared on the occasion of Diwali in 2019 and show the Arunachal scouts of the Indian Army. He wrote that the infantry regiment specializes in mountain warfare and guards India's border with China in Arunachal Pradesh.
Mr. Rijiju also shared the image on Twitter on 29 October 2019.
It is evident that the photo is from 2019 and does not show Union minister Kiren Rijiju visiting Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang after the India-China clash that took place on 9 December 2022. Hence, the claim is misleading.
