A purported photograph, showing Rahul Gandhi dressed as a Hindu saint with a bun and beads around his neck, is going viral on the internet linking it to the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra. Several people shared the photo taking a dig at Gandhi for trying to appease the Hindu population.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
(Archives of more such posts can be found here and here.)
But the truth is?: The image is a doctored one and the original image showed Gandhi wearing a white T-Shirt and black trousers.
Gandhi's face was morphed onto the body of Namdeo Das Tyagi, who joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Madhya Pradesh. Further, Congress leader Sachin Pilot's face was morphed onto the body of Gandhi.
How did we find that out?: We conducted a reverse image search on the viral image on Google and found similar pictures shared by various verified handles of Congress leaders.
While going through more results, we came across the same image on Congress' official Twitter handle.
The original image showed Gandhi walking with a 'godman' and he wasn't dressed as a saint himself.
A comparison of the two images.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
Who is the person walking with Gandhi?:
According to a report in The Indian Express from 3 December, Gandhi was joined by Namdeo Das Tyagi, popularly known as 'Computer baba", during the Bharat Jodo Yatra at Mahudiya village in Agar Malwa district in Madhya Pradesh.
The controversial self-styled godman was booked and arrested for allegedly manhandling a panchayat staffer in 2020.
Conclusion: An image from the Bharat Jodo Yatra was edited to falsely claim that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi dressed as a saint during the yatra.
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