This Is Not a Pic of Ghulam Nabi Azad Meeting Amit Shah Before Leaving Congress

The original, unedited photo shows Shah with Maharashtra Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Goa politician Michael Lobo.

The photograph was edited to include Goel's face and Azad.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

A photograph showing Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Research and Analysis Wing of India (R&AW) Director Samant Kumar Goel, and former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad is doing the rounds on social media. The image is being shared to claim that it shows Azad meeting Shah at his residence, shortly before announcing his resignation from Congress.

However, the photograph is morphed. We found that the original photograph, which shows Shah with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Goa legislator Michael Lobo, was edited to replace Fadnavis and Lobo with Goel and Azad, respectively.

CLAIM

The photograph is being shared with Hindi captions, which claim that it shows a meeting between the three individuals before Azad tendered his resignation to the Congress party on 26 August 2022.

An archive of this tweet can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Similar posts on social media can be seen here and here.

The Quint received a query to fact-check this photograph on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We ran a reverse image search on Yandex and came across a tweet by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' verified Twitter account, which had shared a similar photo.

Fadnavis shared the photo on 30 September 2021.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The photograph showed Fadnavis and Shah, along with Michael Lobo, a politician from Goa in a tweet was shared on 30 September 2021.

We flipped this photo horizontally and saw that it resembled the photograph in the viral claim.

After comparing these two photographs, we saw that many elements in the photograph's background – such as the two idols placed on a side table and the colour of the files on the table – matched each other.

The background details in both photos match.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

We also observed that the position of Samant Kumar Goel's feet and the accessories on the wrist matched those of Fadnavis' from the original photo.

Moreover, there is also a stack of papers at the bottom right side of the photos, and both Goel and Fadnavis are seen seated in the same position, in the same outfit.

(Note: Swipe right to view both images.)

Both individuals are seated in the same position.

Goel and Fadnavis are both in the same outfit, including the accessories.

Azad, too, appears to be seated in the same spot as Michael Lobo.

Clearly, Fadnavis' photo from a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and Goa legislator Michael Lobo has been altered to include R&AW director Samant Kumar Goel and former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

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