Old image of Rahul Gandhi shared with misleading claim amidst 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'

Hyderabad: Amidst, 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', the nationwide foot march campaign that began in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu on 7^th September 22. State President IT & social media, Tamil Nadu, CTR Nirmal Kumar, tweeted an old image of Rahul Gandhi with his niece along with the objectionable caption. The tweet went viral within no time, making the situation worse.

A screenshot of the tweet is now doing rounds on social media. The caption of the tweet translates to English reads, "Pappu is playing with children by putting Mehendi on them. Feeling sad for the 10 members who're taking him to the yatra".

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Social media users and other political leaders can be seen criticising and lashing out at the CTR. Nirmal Kumar for making such comments on Rahul Gandhi.

The photo has been claimed as a recent one from Bharat Jodo Yatra by many social media users.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra (a march to unite India) by the Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi, has started with much fanfare. Although Congress has projected it as a non-political and non-party national event, the march would pass through 12 states and two Union territories where the party wants to improve its electoral performance in the coming general elections.

FACT CHECK

NewsMeter performed a reverse image search to find the original source and location of the image and found that the image was shot on "The Tributes Paid To Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi On His 71st Birth Anniversary". The image was found on Getty images along with several other similar images of the event.

The description in the image reads, "The NEW DELHI, INDIA - AUGUST 20: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi with his niece Miraya Vadra during a remembrance ceremony for the 71st birth anniversary of the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Veer Bhumi on August 20, 2015, in New Delhi, India. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during electoral campaigning, allegedly by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel separatists, in the town of Sriperumpudur, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. (Photo by Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)"

We also found the same image published in an article by Deccan Chronicle photo story titled "Priyanka Vadra's daughter Miraya makes a rare public appearance", dated 21 August 2015.

This confirms that the image is way old shot back in 2015 and not a recent one from 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

Moving on to the backlash of the tweet by the State President IT & Social Media, Tamil Nadu, CTR Nirmal Kumar, the leader has already deleted the original tweet and uploaded official apology tweets on his Twitter account stating, 'My intent was just a satire by comparing Rahul with kids maturity & I stand with it. I removed it since a few fake peddlers like @zoo_bear misled my Tamil content with false information. Now I will leave it to the people's decision.'

It is evident that the image is old and shared with misleading comments. Hence, the claim is misleading