2019 Photo of PM Modi's Rally Ahead of LS Polls Shared Amid COVID Surge

The photo is from 2019 when PM Modi had greeted his supporters during a roadshow in Varanasi.

The claim states that it is a recent photo where Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be seen greeting supporters ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting a massive crowd from his car is being shared on social media to claim that he had recently addressed the people as Omicron cases surged in the country and goes on to call him "Mr super spreader".

However, we found that the photo is from 2019 when Modi had greeted his supporters during a roadshow in Varanasi, a day before he had filed for his nomination for the Lok Sabha polls. Notably, COVID-19 was first reported in India in January 2020.

Although the photo is not a recent one, it must be noted that various political leaders, including the prime minister, has addressed multiple rallies in election-bound states, where crowds can be seen disregarding COVID-19 protocols.

CLAIM

The photo is being shared on social media with the claim that reads, "PM Modi welcomes Omicron in India Mr super spreader.(sic)"

An archive of the tweet can be found here. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Several social media users have shared the photo along with similar claims and the archived links can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

We conducted a Google reverse image search on the photo and this led us to a photo gallery on the website of Outlook.

The photo courtesy read, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his roadshow, a day ahead of filing his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha polls, in Varanasi."

It was attributed to news agency Press Trust of India's (PTI) Manvender Vashist.

The image from 2019. 

(Source: Outlook/Screenshot)

We also found the photo published in an article on news website Scroll on 25 April 2019.

The report mentioned that the roadshow began from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and ended at Dashashwamedh Ghat.

BJP's official Twitter handle, too, had posted a video of the roadshow in April 2019.

Clearly, this is an old photo of PM Modi's roadshow in Varanasi which has been shared amid the rising COVID cases in the country.

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