Do These Images Show the Same ‘Actor’ in Different Photos With Rahul Gandhi? No!
The men pictured in the images are different people. The student leader was identified as one Lokesh Choudhary.
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A set of photos, both of which show Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, have gone viral on social media, where users have claimed that one person in the background of each photo is an actor.
The claim: Sharing photos of Gandhi with porters, also known as coolies, and with Delhi University students, social media users have highlighted men in both photos, claiming that they show the same person, who is an actor hired to be present in Gandhi's videos.
We also received a query to verify this claim on our WhatsApp tipline.
(Archived of more claims on social media can be seen here, here, here, and here.)
But...?: The claim is false.
We went through both videos and found that both men are different people.
While we could not verify the identity of the porter, the Delhi University student seen in the second photo was identified as Delhi University Students' Union's (DUSU) Joint Secretary Lokesh Choudhary.
How do we know?: We started off by looking for the source of the two visuals on social media.
We found the video related to the second image on Rahul Gandhi's verified YouTube channel, which was a video about the condition of Dalit students in Delhi University.
On closely watching this video, we saw a clearer, zoomed in version of the person highlighted in the second image, at the 3:02-minute mark.
We got a closer look at the person's face in this video.
(Source: YouTube/Screenshot)
Similarly, we looked for the video of Gandhi interacting with porters, which was originally shared by Indian National Congress' verified YouTube channel on 5 March 2025.
In this video, Gandhi spoke to porters who were present at the New Delhi Railway Station on 15 February 2025, when a stampede claimed 18 lives and injured 15 others.
We were able to get a closer look at the porter's face 15 seconds into this video.
We got a closer look at the face of the person highlighted in the first image.
(Source: YouTube/Screenshot)
On comparing the visuals from these two videos, it becomes evident that they do not show the same person.
The people highlighted in the viral claim are two different people.
(Source: YouTube/Altered by The Quint)
Who are they?: While we could not identify and contact the porter in the claim, we looked for the identity of the man in the video about DU students.
We found several social media posts which identified the person as Lokesh Choudhary, the joint secretary of the Delhi University Students' Union.
Social media users identified the man as Lokesh Choudhary.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
We looked for his social media accounts and found a post where he had shared the viral claim, saying that it showed " thenaivety and fear of BJP (sic)."
The Quint then reached out to Choudhary, who confirmed that it was indeed him in the photograph showing DU members with Rahul Gandhi.
Conclusion: A set of photos have gone viral with the false claim that they show the same 'actor' participating in videos about different issues with Rahul Gandhi.
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