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.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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.

An archived version of the Tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

An archived version of the Tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

An archived version of the Tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

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.

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

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.

Original image clicked by Amitesh in 2017.(Source: Amitesh Kumar/The Lallantop)

Meta details of the original image as shared by Amitesh Kumar.(Source: Amitesh Kumar/The Lallantop)

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

(You can read all our coronavirus related fact-checked stories here.)

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on Whatsapp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)