That's Not a Real Image of Priyanka Gandhi's Temple Visit, It's Altered!

The photo was morphed to show Gandhi carrying a trident while wearing heavy jewellery.

A morphed photograph showing Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi dressed in red clothes and holding a trident, while her head is covered and bowed in prayer is being shared on social media.

The photo is being shared to take a dig at Gandhi, who was visiting temples, with some users saying that she may become a self-proclaimed spiritual leader by the time the elections come close.

However, we found that the image was edited. The original photo shows her sitting with her head bowed and covered, but her hands are not visible. The photograph was taken in March 2019, when Priyanka Gandhi had kicked off Congress’ campaign drive in Uttar Pradesh by going on a three-day ‘Ganga Yatra’.

CLAIM

The photograph is being shared with many different claims in Hindi and English, which share it as a true photo. In some versions of the claim, users take a dig at Gandhi’s temple visits during an election campaign.

More claims on social media can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

We ran the image through reverse image search, and were led to a report by Jansatta, which carried the photo and noted that it showed Priyanka Gandhi at Vindhyavasini Temple.

The same photo was also carried in an article by Rediff.com.

In this photo, it is seen that the mark on Gandhi’s forehead is not as long as the one seen in the claim. Further, her hands are not seen in the original photo.

The morphed photo also shows a trident in her hands and more flowers on her head than in the original photo.

Using relevant keywords, we looked for news reports about Priyanka Gandhi visiting the Vindhyavasini Temple. Hindustan Times and Deccan Herald carried reports dated 19 March, 2019, that noted that Gandhi was on a three-day election campaign aboard a vessel in the river Ganga.

Her campaign for Congress involved visiting different temples and interacting with voters across Uttar Pradesh.

In a Facebook post, the Uttar Pradesh Mahila Congress shared photos of her visit to the Vindhyavasini Temple in Mirzapur, which showed her seated on the ground in the same red outfit.

Clearly, an edited photo of Priyanka Gandhi was shared to take a dig at the Congress leader.

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