Activist Anna Hazare’s face has been edited on to that of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, in an image with party President JP Nadda. The picture has gone viral with a false claim that Hazare has joined the ruling party.
This comes after the 84-year-old activist called off his indefinite fast against the three new farm laws, claiming that some of his demands have been agreed upon by the Centre.
CLAIM
The image was shared by Twitter user, ‘@iAnnaHaare,’ a parody account of Anna Hazare, with the caption, “माननीय श्री जेपी नड्डा की मौजूदगी में आज भारतीय जनता पार्टी की सदस्यता ग्रहण की!”
(Translation: “Joined the Bharatiya Janata Party today in the presence of Honorable Shri JP Nadda!”)
The tweet had garnered over 7,700 likes at the time of writing this article.
The Quint also received a query regarding the image on its WhatsApp helpline.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On a reverse image search we found the original image in an article on The Times of India, dated 11 March 2020.
The original image shows Madhya Pradesh’s politician Jyotiraditya Scindia receiving a bouquet from BJP President JP Nadda on joining the party, after ending his 18-year-long stint with the Congress.
We also found the image in PTI archives, dated 11 March 2020, which is captured by photographer Arun Sharma at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
A comparison of the viral image with the original one can be seen below.
Further, there are no credible news reports about Hazare joining the BJP and the Twitter account, ‘@annahaare’ – whose watermark is on the viral image – no longer exists.
Evidently, Hazare’s face has been edited onto an image of BJP leaders to make false claims.
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