No, This Old Image Does Not Show Iftar Party Hosted For Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

The image shows a luncheon thrown by Sardar Patel to celebrate the appointment of the first Indian Governor-General.

Fact-check: An old picture of Indian politicians having a meal together at a luncheon organised by Sardar Patel is going viral with a false claim that it shows an iftar party.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An image showing several Indian politicians sitting together at a table and having a meal is going viral on social media.

The image included former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former Home Minister of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, among others.

What's the claim?: The claim states that this image shows the first Iftar party hosted for Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad after India's independence and accuses Nehru of "appeasement politics" by having Sardar Patel.

The claim further add that Sardar Patel opposed the idea of hosting an iftar party as there were no parties for Holi and Diwali.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claim can seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: The image dates back to 1948 shows a luncheon thrown by Sardar Patel to celebrate the appointment of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari as the first Indian Governor-General.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a revese image search on the image that led us to the same image's black and white version on Alamy, a stock image website.

• The image's description in Marathi said, "Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and other ministers attending a dinner invitation given to the Cabinet by Vallabhbhai Patel to celebrate Chakraborty Rajagopalchari becoming India’s first Governor General. June 1948."

The image dates back to 1948.

(Source: Alamy/Screenshot)

• The description also linked to an article posted by MidDay about Vijay Surwade who self-published a pictorial biography of Ambedkar.

• The biography and the report carried the viral image.

• We also came across an online version of a book called 'Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar' published by Mumbai Corporation in 2016.

• The book was written by Dr Narendra Jadhav.

• The caption of the picture also stated that this was a lunch organised by Patel.

The image does not show an iftar party.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

• We reached out to Jadhav who dismissed the claim about the photo being from an iftar party.

• He told us that this photograph dates back to 1948 and was taken on the occasion of dinner hosted by Patel.

• Next, we performed a keyword search and came across a collection of old photographs clicked by photojournalist Homai Vyarawalla.

• It carried an image of the same event but from a top-angle.

• The caption stated that Nehru's Cabinet attended a lunch hosted by Patel after C Rajagopalachari became Governer-General in 1948.

• It adds, "Seated here are: Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Baldeve Singh, Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, C Rajagopalachari, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Raj Kumari, Amrit Kaur, John Matthai, Jagjivan Ram, Mr Gadgil, Mr Neogi, Dr Ambedkar, Shyama Prasad Mookherji, Gopalaswamy Iyengar and Jayaramdas Daulatram.”

• The picture also clearly shows Patel at the table with the Cabinet.

The image showed the Cabinet having a meal to celebrate Rajagopalachari hosted by Patel.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

Conclusion: An old picture of Indian politicians having a meal together at a luncheon organised by Sardar Patel is going viral with a false claim that it shows an iftar party.

(Note: The story has been updated to add a quote by Jadhav)

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