Tharoor Uses 2017 Image from UP to Mock ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’

The image is old and was clicked by Amitesh Kumar for The Lallantop in 2017 while covering the UP election.

In an attempt to take a jibe at Modi’s government’s “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan” (Mission Self-Reliant India), Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shared an old image from 2017 insinuating that it shows the reality of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” .

While addressing the nation on 12 May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an economic relief package and stressed on the importance of ‘Self-Reliant India’ to tide over coronavirus crisis.

We found that the image is old and was clicked by Amitesh Kumar for The Lallantop in 2017 while covering the Uttar Pradesh elections.

THE CLAIM

The aforementioned image shows a woman carrying a saline drip bottle in her hand. The drip is connected to a child.

In addition to Tharoor, well-known Urdu poet Imran Pratapgarhi and advocate Dipika Rajawat also shared the image on Twitter with similar claims. Pratapgarhi was the Congress candidate from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

WHAT WE FOUND

Several users while commenting on Shashi Tharoor’s post, pointed out that the image is from 2017. Saurabh Dwivedi, editor at news website The Lallantop mentioned that image was clicked by his colleague Amitesh Kumar in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur.

@TheLallantop की ये फ़ोटो इन दिनों बहुत वाइरल है. इसे 2017 के UP विधानसभा चुनाव के दौरान हमारे साथी अमितेश कुमार ने मिर्ज़ापुर ज़िले में खींचा था. @amie_001 pic.twitter.com/Lf0zqPTi19

— Saurabh Dwivedi (@saurabhtop) June 13, 2020

Amitesh himself took to Instagram to clarify that the image is old and was clicked in 2017 while covering the Uttar Pradesh election.

View this post on Instagram

चूंकि ये फोटो कई लोगों ने डाल दी है। इसलिए ये बताना जरूरी है। ये तस्वीर 2017 की है। उत्तर प्रदेश विधानभा चुनाव के दौरान की। तस्वीर मिर्ज़ापुर की है। तस्वीर 5:24 शाम की है। . . . . #streetphoto #magnumphotos #streetlife #streetportrait #documentary #lensculturestreets #urbanphotography #everydayasia #streetphotographer #HypeBeast #vscoportrait #ig_mood #discoverportrait #portraitphotography #profile_vision #bleachmyfilm #postmoreportraits #portraitpage #igpodium_portraits #portraiture #incredibleindia #photographers_of_india #indiagram #storiesofindia #indiaclicks #canonphotos #canoneos #canonrebel #canonphotographer #focalmarked

A post shared by Amitesh (@amie_story) on Jun 11, 2019 at 10:09am PDT

We also found a video released by The Lallantop with Amitesh’s statement.

Next, we reached out to Amitesh who helped us verify the original image and its meta details.

Evidently, an old image was shared on social media as ‘reality of Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

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