A 2005 image of Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi, photoshopped to look like she’s sitting on the lap of former President of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has been revived on social media with the hashtag ‘black day for press’ amid outrage over arrest of Republic TV’s chief Arnab Goswami.
CLAIM
The photo is being shared with the caption, “This is leader of Sonia Sena who can do any thing for money. Most corrupt party who is behind this.. #BlackDay4Press (sic)“
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A reverse image search led us to the original image on stock photos site, Getty Images.
Clicked by photographer Prakash Singh for news agency AFP, the image is from March 2005 when Gandhi met Maldives’ then president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in New Delhi on his six-day visit to India.
A comparison of the two images shows that Gandhi has been cropped out of her chair and photoshopped onto Gayoom to falsely suggest that she was sitting on his lap.
Evidently, the image has been photoshopped to suggest Sonia Gandhi sat on former Maldives’ President’s lap.
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