Edited image shared to show a photographer lying on the ground to click PM Modi

Originally, the image does not show a photographer clicking images of PM Modi while he was paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanti.

An image showing a photographer lying on the ground and clicking Prime Minister Narendra Modi while he was paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd October 2022. PM Modi visited Rajghat on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 153rd birthday along with President Droupadi Murmu.

Journalist Ravi Nair had also tweeted the image with a caption stating “without comments”. However, later he deleted his tweet. You can view the archived version here.

Fact Crescendo received this image for verification on our WhatsApp Factline number. We found that the viral image is edited.

Archive Link

Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a Google reverse image search, the results led us to a tweet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2^nd October 2021. The caption of the tweet mentioned, “Took part in a prayer meeting at the Gandhi Smriti in Delhi.” We can clearly see that the viral image has been edited. We cannot see any photographer in the original image.

Siasat Daily in 2021 credited this image to PTI stating “Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Gandhi Smriti in Delhi on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.”

Below you can see a comparison image between the viral edited image and original image. In the original image we can clearly see that there is no photographer at the venue clicking pictures of PM Modi lying on the ground.

Thus, a one year old image of PM Modi paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanti has been falsely edited. We found news reports by Hindustan Times published in 2022 showing PM Modi paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. Narendra Modi himself posted images of this tribute. We can see that this year PM Modi was wearing a white kurta with a red and white scarf around his neck.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found that the viral image was edited. The image dates back to 2021 showing PM Modi paying tribute on Gandhi Jayanti. The original image does not show a photographer lying on the ground.