CLAIM
Word’s going around that a bunch of political rally pictures feature the same lady – an elderly woman dressed in white. These images have been shared with the claim that she has been paid Rs 5,000 by the Congress.
This has been shared on Twitter and had over 2,000 likes on one account at the time this article was being written.
The Quint received queries about this collage of images on its WhatsApp channel.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim is completely false since the 'old woman’ seen in the photos is not one person but different women altogether. Also, one of the photos in the collage is that of Kerala BJP leader Surendran, and not a Congress leader as claimed.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The Quint conducted a reverse image search for all images individually. We found that Shashi Tharoor had tweeted the original image with an old lady on 13 April 2019.
Another image actually did not feature a Congress member at all. On doing a reverse image search, we deduced that the man in the picture was BJP candidate Surendran who is fighting from the Pathanamthitta district, Kerala.
As for the image with Priyanka Gandhi, it was clicked when she was visiting Wayanad, Kerala.
Rahul Gandhi’s image with an old lady was clicked when he was in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for a visit to flood-affected areas. The images are from December, 2015.
A closer look at the pictures reveal that it’s not one particular woman but different women, with different facial features.
Thus, it is can be deciphered that the women in the photos are not the “same old lady whom the Congress has paid”. Also, one of the images has a BJP leader, and hence the claim falls flat.
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