Fact Check: Viral photo of vegetable vendor displaying communally polarising posters is morphed

Hyderabad: An image of a vegetable vendor with a poster on his trolley is viral on social media. As per the viral image the poster reads, “This vegetable has neither been spit on nor washed with gutter water because I am Sanatani, we do not do this work. Jai Shri Ram Yours:- Ramlal. (translated from Hindi)”

Those sharing the image are trying to suggest that Muslim vegetable vendors sell vegetables that have human spit and are washed in gutter water. “What’s stopping you to buy from Ramlals, (sic)” wrote an X user who shared the image.

Several X and Facebook users have also shared the image. Click here and here to view the posts.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the text on the poster was digitally added.

Upon a reverse image of the photo, we found it posted by an X user on April 15, 2020. However, the message on the poster is not the same as in the viral image. It reads, “I am a Hindu labourer. There is no restriction on selling fruits and vegetables in Muslim areas because I am safe among humans.”

“While the middle class comfortably sits at home and rejoices by watching venomous TV anchors targeting the Muslim community in India, these vegetable vendors and poor people on the ground are giving message of harmony and peace during the lockdown,” read the post’s caption.

We also found a Facebook post with several images of vegetable vendors, including the one with the original one, posted on April 15, 2020. The user mentioned in the caption that vendors in the Seelampur Assembly are displaying these messages in solidarity with Muslims.

Another Facebook Danish Siddiqui also shared the images on April 15, 2020. “Today in Seelampur, a living example of love and brotherhood, the street vendors themselves came and requested us to put up this message and gave a strong slap on the face of those people who want to inflame the fire of hatred between Hindus and Muslims…” read the post.

We noticed that while all the morphed images we found are two to three days old, all the posts containing the original images are from 2020.

Hence, we conclude that the viral image is morphed.