Old photo of UK PM Rishi Sunak lighting diyas at 11 Downing Street shared as recent

The channel used the hashtags #Diwali and #RishiSunakPM and tweeted, "New PM of Britain, Rishi Sunak, lit diyas outside his house at 11 Downing Street in London." (Archive)

Click here to see the post.

Fact Check

NewsMeter performed a reverse image search of the photo and found an uncropped version of the same photo published by Reuters on 12 November 2020. The description reads, "Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak lights candles outside Downing Street ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali, in London, Britain."

We also found the viral photo on Getty Images published on 12 November 2020. The description said Mr. Sunak lit candles outside 11 Downing Street ahead of Diwali celebrations.

Further, we came across a video posted by Mr. Sunak on 14 November 2020 in which he can be seen putting diyas outside his then residence 11 Downing Street, also referred to as Number 11—the official residence of Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr. Sunak served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK from 13 February 2020 to 5 July 2022. On 25 October, after being invited by King Charles III to form a new government, Rishi Sunak, 42, became the first Hindu and Asian origin Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

It is evident that the image of Mr. Sunak lightning diyas dates back to 2020 when he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK. Hence, the claim that he lit diyas outside 11 Downing Street after becoming Prime Minister is misleading. Moreover, the official residence of the British PM is 10 Downing Street.