A photo of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along side a woman in army fatigue went viral. While the image is a genuine one, the message with which it got shared in a section of the social media, turned out to be false.
CLAIM
The viral post was put up by a Facebook page ‘टीम मोदी सपोर्टर जालोर’. The viral photo claims that the army officer with the defence minister, is her daughter.
The message shared along with the post reads: माननीय रक्षा मंत्री निर्मला सीतारमण और उनकी बेटी के साथ #IPROUDOFINDIANWOMAN (Honourable Defence Minister with her daughter #IPROUDOFINDIANWOMAN)
TRUE OR FALSE
The claim isn’t true. The officer seen with Nirmala Sitharaman is not her daughter.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The post put up by the page ‘ टीम मोदी सपोर्टर जालोर’ had 356 shares till this article was written.
A Facebook user shared the same post on the wall of another Facebook page ‘I Support R.S.S में अपने 100 मित्रों को जोड़ें’, garnering 73 shares till this article was written.
Further search on social media proved how the photo had gone viral.
The Defence Ministry spokesperson’s official Twitter handle has refuted the claim.
The Quint reached out to the Army, which denied the claims of the woman in picture being Nirmala Sitharaman’s daughter.
“The woman is not the defence minister’s daughter,” said Colonel Aman Anand, an army spokesperson.
“The officer was appointed as the liaison for an official visit of the Raksha Mantri to one of the forward areas,” he said.
He, however, refused to reveal the officer’s identity. “She is a serving officer and I cannot reveal her identity,” Colonel Anand said.
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