Photo From Srinagar, Taken Under BJP Rule, Used to Falsely Target Cong

While one image is from 2017, the other was captured this year during the Republic Day celebrations in Bandipora.

Social media users falsely claimed that one of the viral images was from the time when Congress ruled at the Centre.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A set of images has gone viral on social media claiming to show how the situation in Kashmir changed under Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) governance as compared to the one under Congress' rule.

However, we found that the claim is misleading as both images were captured when the BJP was in power at the Centre. While one image is from 2017, the other was captured this year during Republic Day celebrations.

CLAIM

BJP UP leader OP Mishra shared the images with one claiming to show the situation in Kashmir under Congress rule and the other showing the situation in the region under BJP's rule.

While one image shows women apparently pelting stones, the other shows children happily waving the tricolour.

You can view the archived version here.

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

Several social media users shared the set of images on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim. Archived version of the posts can be viewed here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We found that the claim shared along with the set of images is misleading and that both the images were taken when the BJP was governing at the Centre. Let's look at both the images one by one.

IMAGE 1

We reverse searched the image on Yandex and came across an article published by The Times on 28 April 2017 that carried the viral image. The headline of the article reads: 'India deploys women to police schoolgirl protests.'

(Source: The Times/ Screenshot)

The image was attributed to photographer European Pressphoto Agency's (EPA) photographer Farooq Khan. We then searched on EPA's website with relevant keywords and came across the viral image, captured on 22 April 2017 in Srinagar.

(Source: European Pressphoto Agency/ Screenshot)

The caption shared along with the image reads: 'Kashmiri female students throw rocks on police during clashes in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 24 April 2017.'

The caption stated that the area had been witnessing student protest since 15 April 2017 when the security forces raided a college in Pulwama in which several students were left injured.

Clearly, the image was captured when the Bharatiya Janata Party was ruling at the Centre and not the Congress. Regarding the government of Jammu and Kashmir, in 2017, the BJP-PDP-led alliance was in power in the region. However, BJP pulled out of its alliance with the PDP in 2018.

IMAGE 2

On carefully looking at the viral image, we noticed the words 'Goodwill' and 'Pora' written on the building seen behind the children.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

With a relevant keyword search, we came across the website of Army Goodwill School (AGS) situated in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora.

Speaking to The Quint's WebQoof team, school authorities said that the viral image was from their school and that it was taken this year.

Further, Ejaz-ul-haq Bhat, a local reporter from Bandipora confirmed to us that the picture was taken during the Republic Day celebrations at the AGS, Bandipora.

Evidently, both the images were captured when the BJP was governing at the Centre and social media users falsely claimed that one of them was from the time when Congress ruled at the Centre.

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