A viral image showing potholes on a road is being used to take a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by claiming that it is from his constituency Wayanad in Kerala.
However, we found that not only is the image old but also it’s of the Bhagalpur national highway in Bihar and not from Wayanad.
CLAIM
The claim along with the image reads: “#राहुल_गांधी का संसदीय क्षेत्र #वायनाड बना देश का पहला #स्मार्ट सिटी, हर घर के आगे सबका अलग अलग स्विमिंग पूल बनाने वाला पहला शहर (sic)”
(Translated: Rahul Gandhi’s constituency Wayanad has become country’s first smart city, first city to make different swimming pools outside each house.)
The image shared by one Facebook user Ankit Agrawal had garnered over 2,500 shares at the time of publishing the article.
The image is being massively shared on Twitter and Facebook with the same narrative.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A Google reverse image search led us to an article published by The Times of India in June 2017 with the title: “Bhagalpur NH-80 in bad shape.”
The article mentioning the condition of roads in Bihar, had then carried the viral image.
Further, Ranjan, a local Bhagalpur reporter confirmed to The Quint that the image is old and indeed from Bhagalpur NH-80 Highway.
“This is an old image. It is does not show the present condition of the road in question. Currently, the road is fine,” he added.
PREVIOUS CONTROVERSY REGARDING THE BHAGALPUR HIGHWAY
In July 2017, former Bihar deputy chief minister and RJD leader, Tejashwi Yadav had tweeted two images to show the “reality” of the road in question.
ABP News had then reported that while both the images are of the same Bhagalpur highway, the one showing potholes on the road is two months old as compared to the one devoid of potholes.
Evidently, an old image of Bhagalpur national highway is being falsely claimed as a pic of Wayanad to take a dig at Rahul Gandhi.
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