FACT CHECK: Man in viral picture with PM Modi is his political guru Lakshmanrao Inamdar, not Anna Hazare
A photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with late Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Lakshmanrao Inamdar.......
By Newsmeter Network Published on 31 Dec 2020 11:32 AM IST
HYDERABAD: A photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with late Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Lakshmanrao Inamdar is viral on social media. Users claim that PM Modi is with activist Anna Hazare at an RSS camp in the picture.
"Rare photographs were taken together of two brokers - scoundrels in an RSS camp. Enough to understand the character of a man (sic)," reads the English translation of the message.
Names of Narendra Modi and Anna Hazare are edited in the picture.
Click here to view the archive and here and here for similar claims,
FACT CHECK:
NewsMeter found that the image showing Modi with Anna Hazare is fake. The man in the picture is Lakshmanrao Inamdar, who was one of the founding fathers of the RSS in Gujarat.
We performed a reverse image search and found an article by ECONOMIC TIMES that carried the same image. The headline reads: "Lakshmanrao Inamdar: The man who made Narendra Modi what he is today".
The report states that the man in the image with PM Modi is Lakshmanrao Inamdar. Inamdar is credited with inducting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an RSS balswayamsevak (junior cadet) and becoming Modi's political mentor.
We also found the same picture in a magazine archive by INDIA TODAY with the title: "The man behind Modi: Lakshmanrao Inamdar". The image is captioned: "Narendra Modi (left) with Lakshman Rao Inamdar, shortly before the latter's death".
Evidently, it is clear that the man in the viral image is not Anna Hazare, but Lakshmanrao Inamdar. Hence, the claim is false.
