West Bengal is one of the states where the ruling BJP is hoping to increase its seats tally in the upcoming general elections. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a couple of rallies in West Bengal to kickstart the party’s campaign in the state.
However, The Quint found out that the images circulating on social media to highlight the success of these rallies were old ones.
CLAIM
“कम भीड़ के कारण सभा रद्द ये तो सुना था पर भारी भीड़ के कारण PM मोदी को बंगाल रैली मे अपना भाषण छोटा करना पड़ा” - that’s the caption that has gone viral on social media along with a set of photos.
The caption roughly translates to: “We have all heard about rallies getting cancelled due to low attendance but PM Modi had to curtail his speech in Bengal due to excessive audience”.
The message is getting circulated with these three images:
A number of pages and individual users on social media have used the caption and these images.
TRUE OR FALSE
The Quint found out that the images are old ones and not from PM Modi’s recent rally.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A Google reverse image search for each of these photos showed that they are not recent ones. Let us look at them individually:
A reverse image search of this photo leads to the website www.narendramodi.in. Among several photos of PM Modi’s campaign, this image shows up with the caption “Branding From NaMo tea stalls to NaMo Mobile Phones, from Saree shops to Sweet shops and from neck-tags, stickers, caps to sun-shades on Cars, brand NaMo was to be seen everywhere through the 2014 Campaign.”
Now, let us look at the second image.
A reverse image search on this photo confirms that it is from Modi’s rally in Bengaluru on 17 November, 2013. A website www.filmybeat.com has multiple images of the rally, including this one.
The same image has been used in yet another blog forums.bharat-rakshak.com, last updated in 2014.
Now, the third image...
The image has been used in a website www.indianrealestateforum.com, four years ago.
WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED IN MODI’S RALLY
PM Modi indeed had to cut short his speech at his rally in Thakurnagar in West Bengal on 2 February. But, the reason was completely different.
A report by Scroll.in says that the prime minister curtailed his speech after a stampede-like situation broke out at the venue. Reportedly, a few supporters threw chairs into a vacant spot in front of the stage to make space for others to stand.
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