As the inauguration ceremony of Ayodhya's Ram Temple approaches, a social media post showing two photos of ₹500 banknotes with images of Lord Rama, the Ram Temple and a bow and arrow in place of Mahatma Gandhi, the Red Fort and a pair of glasses, respectively is being shared on social media platforms.
What are users saying?: Those sharing claimed that it shows new banknotes that will be issued on 22 January - the date for the temple's concentration ceremony.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)
What is the truth?: The image is altered.
We found the original post by an X user who is the creator of the viral image. The user clarified on his X account that the image was edited.
We also contacted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) spokesperson who dismissed the claim.
Further, there are no news reports or press releases about any new ₹500 banknotes.
How did we find out?: At first, we closely examined the image and found a watermark that reads, "x @raghuamurthy07."
Here is a close-up of the image.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
We looked for this user on X (formerly Twitter) and found the same image on their account, posted on 14 January.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Upon looking further, we found a quote retweet by this user to another X user who claimed the same thing as the viral post.
In the quote retweet, @raghunmurthy07 replied, "The photo is edited. Please don't spread wrong information."
Another X user, @divi_tatatal, also replied to the post that claimed about the new banknotes and said that it was "Edited by her friend @raghunmurthy07."
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
After checking the RBI's website, we found that the 500 rupee note's details in the 'Know Your Notes' section have not changed. The note still features Mahatma Gandhi's portrait on the front and the Red Fort on the back, along with the pair of glasses.
We also reached out to RBI spokesperson Yogesh Dayal who also dismissed the viral claim.
Additionally, there are no news reports or press releases that verify the issuance of new banknotes featuring images of Lord Rama and Red Fort.
Conclusion: It is clear that the viral image has been altered to show images of Lord Rama, the Ram Temple and a bow and arrow in place of Mahatma Gandhi, the Red Fort and a pair of glasses, respectively.
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