A photo of Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani holding a fish is being widely shared on social media.
The claim: The photo is being shared to claim that Irani was holding a fish during the auspicious Hindu festival of Chaitra Navratri, which took place from 9 April to 17 April this year.
The claim targets Irani, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, because the party's functionaries have often called for – or supported – a ban on the sale and consumption of meat during these days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also recently questioned Opposition leaders on uploading videos of them eating non-vegetarian food during Navratri.
An archive of a post making the same claim in Hindi can be seen here.
(Source:X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the photo using Google Lens.
We carried out a keyword search on Google, using the keywords 'Smriti Irani holding fish' and looked for similar images.
This led us to a report by The Times of India, which carried the same photograph, updated on 7 April 2024.
The report was updated on 7 March.
(Source: The Times of India/Altered by The Quint)
It mentioned that local fishermen gifted her a large fish while she was campaigning for the BJP candidate from the north Chennai constituency 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.
Using her name and the constituency's name on X, we also found a post by TOI Chennai, which was shared on 6 April.
This predates the start of Chaitra Navratri by three days.
The photo was first shared on 6 April.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Conclusion: The photo showing Union Minister Smriti Irani holding a fish was taken three days before Chaitra Navratri began on 9 April.
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