No, That's Not Karnataka Hijab Girl Muskan Khan With Rahul Gandhi

The woman seen in the photo with Rahul Gandhi is Barkagaon MLA Amba Prasad from Jharkhand.

A photo of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Jharkhand's Barkagaon Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Amba Prasad is being shared on social media to claim that the woman in the picture is Muskan Khan, the Muslim girl in burqa who stood up to a group of saffron-clad boys chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' in a college in Mandya, Karnataka.

The claim comes in the backdrop of the escalating tension in Karnataka since December 2021, when the Government Girls Pre-University College in Udupi barred six Muslim girls from entering their class wearing hijab.

Earlier this week, clashes broke out in parts of the state as students protesting against the denial of entry into colleges for girls wearing hijab were met with opposition from saffron-clad protesters.

Ever since, misinformation around the issue has been on a rise.

In one of the claims, Muskan Khan's pictures were shared alongside the pictures of Janata Dal (Secular) Karnataka member Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale to claim that she doesn't wear a hijab outside college and that wearing it to college was "propaganda." You can read our fact-check here.

CLAIM

The photo is being shared taking a dig at Khan. The text along with the photo reads, "Is she Hijab/Burka girl?? If yes than mastermind is here (sic)."

The photo is widely shared on Twitter and Facebook.

Several social media users have shared the photo along with similar claims and the archived links can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

Under one of the tweets, we found a reply by a user saying that she is Amba Prasad, Congress MLA from Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand.

Next, we looked for Prasad's Twitter profile, where she had clarified on 10 February that the viral photo that is being circulated is hers.

She also tagged Jharkhand Police to investigate the case and added the tweet by the user that is now deleted. You can view the archive link here.

यह मैं हूं।@INCIndia पार्टी से बड़कागांव की विधायक।

इस फोटो को कर्नाटक की बुर्का वाली लड़की कहकर कलह फैलाने की कोशिश की जा रही तो बता दूं हमारी पार्टी में सबको सम्मान और अधिकार है।भगवा वस्त्र हो या हिजाब।@JharkhandPolice कृपया ऐसे ट्वीट पर फेक कमेंट वालों पर कार्रवाई करें। https://t.co/vU1CnnLBMn

— Amba Prasad (@AmbaPrasadINC) February 10, 2022

We also found photos of the Congress leaders' meet on the official Twitter handle of the Indian National Congress (INC), where Prasad and Gandhi can be seen in one of the photos. The attire of both the Congress leaders also are the same as in the viral image.

We also found a news report on India Today which stated that Gandhi had met Congress MLAs and senior leaders from Jharkhand on 8 February at his New Delhi residence.

Clearly, a photo of Gandhi meeting the Jharkhand MLA is being shared on social media falsely claiming that she is Muskan Khan, who had met Gandhi.

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