On Monday, 18 May, Awanish Awasthi, Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home), had written to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, accepting her proposal to deploy the buses for migrants after an accident occurred in Auraiya, where 24 people lost their lives.
Now, social media users including Deepak Bhati Chotiwala, national secretary at Indian Youth Congress, have shared an image claiming that it shows those 1,000 buses lined up for migrants but Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath is not giving permission.
However, the image is actually from February 2019, when the UP government created a Guinness world record by rolling out a fleet of 503 buses in Kumbh Mela held in Prayagraj.
CLAIM
The claim shared along with the image reads: “शर्मनाक, ये कोई जाम नहीं है उत्तरप्रदेश मे प्रियंका_गाँधी जी ने 1000 बस तैयार कर रखी है मजदूरो को घर पहुँचाने के लिए लेकिन योगी जी परमिशन नही दे रहे !!”
Translation: “Shameful. This is not a jam but Priyanka Gandhi’s 1,000 buses lined up in Uttar Pradesh so that migrants can reach home but UP CM Yogi is not giving permission.”
Several social media users have shared the image on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On conducting a Google reverse image search, we found an NDTV article published on 28 February 2019 that carried the viral image with the headline: ‘At Kumbh Mela, UP Eyes Guinness Record For 'Largest Parade Of Buses'”.
News agency ANI had then tweeted the viral image mentioning the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation’s (UPSRTC) attempt of setting the Guinness record for the longest fleet of buses (500) in Prayagraj’s Kumbh Mela held in 2019.
The official website of Guinness World Records, too, corroborated the aforementioned details.
“The largest parade of buses is 503 and was achieved by Prayagraj Mela Authority (Government of India) and Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (both India) at NH-19, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, on 28 February 2019, (sic)” the website mentioned.
Several other news organisations including The Quint, Financial Express and Times Now had carried the image in 2019 with the same context.
Evidently, an old picture is being shared to falsely claim that it shows 1,000 buses arranged by Priyanka Gandhi to take migrants home.
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