An image of the newly appointed Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Navjot Singh Sidhu, is being shared to claim that he carried the poster of late former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at a roadshow.
However, we found that the image has been morphed to add Gandhi's photo. The original image shows Sidhu holding freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's poster at a roadshow in Punjab's Amritsar on Tuesday, 20 July.
CLAIM
The image is being shared with a claim in Punjabi, which when translated to English, reads: 'These Congressmen are going to bow down to Harmandir Sahib. Can anyone tell what message he is giving to people, especially Sikhs, by taking this photo?'
You can view the archived version here.
(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We performed a reverse image search on Google that led us to a Twitter thread shared by user Arshdeep Kaur on 20 July that had shared the viral image, however, it didn't show the poster of Indira Gandhi.
Sidhu got a rousing welcome as he reached Amritsar on Tuesday, 20 July, after becoming the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief with several supporters standing with garlands and banners, a Hindustan Times report mentioned.
The development comes ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, scheduled for early next year.
On comparing the viral image with the original one, we found that the former had been morphed to add Gandhi's photo. The original one showed the poster of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
Left: Viral image. Right: Original image.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
Further, news agency PTI, too, had captured the image of Sidhu holding Bhagat Singh's poster, from a different angle on Tuesday.
The caption shared along with the photo read: 'Newly appointed Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Navjot Singh Sidhu being welcomed by his supporters during his visit to Amritsar, on Tuesday, 20 July.'
Newly appointed Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Navjot Singh Sidhu being welcomed by his supporters during his visit to Amritsar.
(Photo: PTI)
Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday, 23 July, took charge as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief at a ceremony in Chandigarh, and addressed party workers in a fiery speech, promising that he would not let down the state and would accept everyone into the party.
Evidently, social media users shared a morphed image of Navjot Singh Sidhu holding a poster at a roadshow in Punjab's Amritsar.
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