Old Poster Supporting TMC Edited and Shared by Congress Ahead of Polls

The original image was shared in March 2021 in the run-up to the West Bengal Assembly elections.

A photograph showing two elderly men holding a poster supporting the Indian National Congress has gone viral ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh state Assembly elections.

While one man in the photo is seen wearing saffron clothes, the other person is wearing a skull cap, representing the Hindu and Muslim community respectively. Those sharing the viral image claim that people from all communities are supporting the Congress party in the upcoming elections.

However, we found that the photograph has been altered to include the poster supporting Congress. The original photograph, posted in March 2021, was in support of the Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. The photographs were shared ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.

CLAIM

The photograph was shared by the verified account of UP-East Youth Congress. "ये तस्वीर इस और भी इशारा कर रही है कि उत्तरप्रदेश के दिल मे इस बार सिर्फ कांग्रेस है । हिन्दू मुस्लिम सिक्ख ईसाई आपस में हम भाई भाई," the caption said.

[Translation: This picture is further indicating that this time only Congress is in the heart of Uttar Pradesh. Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Christian are all together.]

Archives of more such posts were Found on Twitter and Facebook, archives of some of which can be found here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We conducted a reverse image search of the viral image and found similar images posted in 2021. The image was posted by a verified Facebook page called "Didi Ke Bolo" (Tell Didi), an initiative started by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for people to air their grievances and complaints.

The image was published on 2 March 2021, in the run-up to the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, and asked for people to support Banerjee if they wanted unity and development. We also found the same image posted by Trinamool Congress leader Nusrat Jahan on her Twitter account.

Shameless polarisation coming from the party that understands nothing of unity or peace!

FYI, Mr @amitmalviya people across all religions, caste groups, genders are rallying behind @MamataOfficial owing to her good work. Would recommend having some grip on your politics of hate! https://t.co/kPHt6azW3m pic.twitter.com/fioJXWjZnK

— Nusrat Jahan Ruhi (@nusratchirps) March 3, 2021

When we cropped the images of the two men in the photograph and conducted a reverse image search, we found another photograph of the duo with the same poster at a different location. The image was also posted in March 2021.

Evidently, an old photograph showing support to the TMC in 2021 was edited and shared with a false claim that it showed people from the Hindu and Muslim community supporting Congress in the upcoming UP state elections.

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