An image, purportedly carrying a statement issued by the Italian Embassy in New Delhi's X account, is being widely shared on social media.
What does it say?: This alleged statement by the Italian Embassy expressed "deep concern and strong disapproval regarding the derogatory remarks attributed to" Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
"India's internal political matters should not become a pretext for mocking or disrespecting the Prime Minister of Italy," it read.
The claim: Users have claimed that Gandhi 'brought India shame' after a fellow party member, Sanjay Dikshit, made remarks mentioning Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at a recent event after Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking whether hugging people was a part of his foreign policy.
Among those sharing the claim was political satirist Ajeet Bharti, who shared the claim on his X account, who sarcastically thanked both Gandhi and Dikshit for bringing "shame to India."
News organisations Gujarat Samachar and Republic also published reports carrying this statement.
How did we find out the truth?: The post quoted in every report and claim was shared by an X account with the username '@AINga5f'.
When we took a look at this account, we saw that its bio clearly said that it was a "SATIRE ACCOUNT (sic)."
The official account of the Italian Embassy goes by the username '@ItalyinIndia'.
This fake account carried a blue verification mark, whereas official government accounts carry grey verification marks.
The fake account was deleted while this report was being written.
Did Italy comment on the statement?: We went through the official account of the Italian Embassy, but did not find any statement regarding either of the Congress leaders or PM Meloni.
The website of the Italian Embassy in India, too, did not carry any recent or relevant statements regarding the remarks or the incident, with the most recent notice being posted on 24 July, 20 days before the Congress' event.
The Quint has contacted the Italian Embassy over email, who confirmed that the account did not "belong to the Italian Embassy in New Delhi and has been immediately reported."
Conclusion: News organisations and social media users shared a post from a fake account to falsely claim that the Italian Embassy had condemned Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi for his 'derogatory remarks' on PM Meloni.
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