A doctored photo of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi making him appear older, is being shared on social media with a misleading claim that this is the Congress party's latest attempt to cultivate his look to attract voters.
BOOM found that the photo has been digitally altered by enhancing his greying beard and making his hair appear longer. The original picture, shows Gandhi with relatively lesser facial hair and also a shorter crop of hair.
Rahul Gandhi is now leading the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra, a nationwide foot march campaign which started from Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022 and will end in Jammu and Kashmir. Visuals of the 52-year old's active march, where youngsters appear to be awed by his impromptu push-ups and brisk pace of walking, have been shared by the Congress' social media accounts.
Sirf News founder and editor Surajit Dasgupta tweeted the image with a caption saying, "They tried to sell him as a youth icon. Didn't work. They tried to sell his pet, Pidi, to project a soft side. People made broth of Piddi. They tried rain. Got washed away. They are now trying old age. No 'Marx' for guessing this will fail too."
Click here to view the tweet.
Lawyer Deepika Pushkar Nath also tweeted the same viral image.
Click here to view the tweet.
Several right-wing users have also shared a heavily altered version of the same photo, showing Gandhi appear decades older. View such posts here and here. The photo appears to be created using an app.
Fact Check
BOOM performed a reverse image search to find out the original image and found it on a tweet by the Congress party's official handle on October 18, 2022.
The image is captioned in Hindi which translates to, "A warrior-like spirit, a saint-like smile. The entire India is behind this today. Bharat Jodo Yatra".
Click here to view the tweet.
The original picture shows a visible difference to the viral photograph where Gandhi can be seen having a shorter haircut with a lesser amount of beard on his face.
A comparison between the viral picture and the original photo can be seen below.