A photo showing National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat praying in front of a photo of a Hindu goddess, is being shared on social media.
Among those who shared it was Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was also quick to issue a correction and delete his tweet.
Murmu, who was a former Jharkhand governor, will become the first Adivasi president and the second-ever woman president, if elected.
However, this photo of Murmu with Bhagwat is doctored. It has been taken from different pictures of the two and merged together.
CLAIM
While sharing the picture, one of the users wrote, "Smt Draupadi Murmu visits RSS headquarters to meet Mohan Bhagwat at Nagpur to seek his blessings for her candidature. Have we got any more doubts as to where we are being led from? (sic)"
An archived version of the post can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We found that the picture has been created using different pictures of the two from different events. Let's take a look at them one by one.
NDA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DROUPADI MURMU'S IMAGE
We isolated Murmu's photo from the viral image and conducted a reverse image search on it. This led us to a report by the BBC, the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom.
The report was from 23 June 2022 and carried the photo of Murmu with Jharkhand's Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
BBC's report showed the original photo of Murmu with Soren.
(Source: BBC/IPRD/Screenshot)
Taking a cue, we checked Soren's Twitter account and found this photo of him greeting Murmu by bowing before her.
He had tweeted this photo on 29 December 2020, with a caption that read in Hindi, "Today, on the occasion of completion of one year of Jharkhand Government, met Governor Smt. Droupadi Murmu ji at Raj Bhavan."
This image has been flipped and used in the image that is now being shared on social media.
Murmu's original photo dated back to 2020.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
RSS CHIEF MOHAN BHAGWAT'S IMAGE
Next, we isolated the Bhagwat's image and conducted a reverse image search on it. This led us to a tweet by the official Twitter account of the RSS from 11 March 2022.
The tweet carried the original picture of Bhagwat where he is seen joining hands in front of a photo of a Hindu goddess.
The original photo shows RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, dressed in all white, standing behind him where Murmu can be seen in the viral photo.
Bhagwat's original photo shows someone else standing behind him instead of Murmu.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
Both these images have been flipped horizontally to create the viral image.
Further, there are no reports on Murmu meeting Bhagwat.
Clearly, an edited photo is being shared falsely claiming that Droupadi Murmu met Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur.
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