Fact-Check: Old Photo of Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Shared With Misleading Claim

A photo showing Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma standing at the doorway of a crowded bus has gone viral on social media.

What are users claiming?: The photo is being shared to claim that it shows Sharma travelling in a state transport bus just months before becoming the chief minister of Rajasthan, in admiration of his 'humble background.'

• The claim was also shared by a X (formerly Twitter) Premium subscriber and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Dinesh Desai.

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here, here, and here.)

Is it true?: The claim is misleading.

• The photo was taken in August this year, when BJP leaders and workers in Rajasthan – including Sharma – had travelled to Jaipur for a protest against former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot's Congress-led government's governance.

How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral photo, which led us to a Facebook post shared by a BJP worker from Bharatpur, Rajasthan.

• This post, which was shared on 1 August, mentioned a protest against the former Congress-led government in the state, called 'Nahi Sahega Rajasthan' and carried the same photo as the one in the viral claim.

Taking a cue from this, we looked for mentions of this protest on CM Bhajan Lal Sharma's verified Facebook page.

• Here, we came across more visuals of the protest, which included a similar photo of Sharma's.

One can see the similarities between the photo in Sharma's post and the image in the viral claim.

We also came across a broadcast of the protest on BJP Rajasthan's X profile, where Sharma can be seen speaking around the 11:52 mark.

Several BJP leaders from Rajasthan shared visuals of the demonstration against the government on their accounts, including former MLA Rajendra Rathore and BJP MP from Bharatpur Ranjeeta Koli.

News reports: According to a video report by First India News, the protest took place at Statue Circle in Jaipur, where police personnel used water cannons to disperse the BJP protesters.

• Amid the action, some BJP workers gathered in a bus, surrendering themselves to the police after a few protesters were injured.

Conclusion: A photo showing Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma in a bus during a protest is being shared with a misleading claim that it shows Sharma travelling in a state transport bus.

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