A viral image of Congress workers feeding cake to a banner that has a photograph of former pornstar Mia Khalifa, is morphed. The photograph has also been edited with the text 'love you Miya' on one of the cakes.
BOOM found that the image is over 13 years old. The image was originally clicked on June 19, 2007 on the occasion of Rahul Gandhi's 37th birthday, the then leader of the youth wing of the Congress Party. Indian Youth Congress supporters cut a cake and fed it to the banner which had the image of Rahul Gandhi.
Recently, many international celebrities including pop singer Rihanna, environmental activist Greta Thunberg and former adult star Mia Khalifa came forward to support the ongoing farmers' protest. The viral picture is the aftermath of a tweet by Mia Khalifa in solidarity with farmers.
Also Read:Farmers' Protests: Photoshopped Photo Of Rihanna With Pak Flag Goes Viral
The image has been shared by several verified Twitter handles. A Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) member Surendra Poonia has tweeted the image accompanying with a caption in Hindi. It translates to: "It is Rahul Gandhi's Congress. Then they will say EVMs hacked." (In Hindi: राहुल जी के कांग्रेसी ! फिर कहते हैं EVM हैक हो गई.)
Screenshot of the now deleted tweet can be seen below.
The picture is widely shared on Facebook as well.
Also Read:Video From 2020 Shared As Alcohol Distributed At Farmers' Protest
Fact Check
BOOM was able to ascertain that the image has been poorly edited - Mia's name has been misspelt on the cake. Further, Mia Khalifa's image has not been properly merged with the background of the banner.
We then ran a reverse image search and found the original image uploaded by the stock image website Getty Images on June 19, 2007. In the original image, there is Rahul Gandhi's photo in the banner to which the Congress party workers feed cake.
The caption in the photo reads: "New Delhi, INDIA: Indian Youth Congress supporters cut a huge birthday cake during celebrations for the 37th birthday of Rahul Gandhi, leader of the youth wing of the Congress Party, in front of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's residence in New Delhi, 19 June 2007. Indian Youth Congress supporters organised the birthday celebrations for Rahul Gandhi, Congress Party member of parliament (MP) and son of the Congress-led UPA government chairperson Sonia Gandhi. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN (Photo credit should read RAVEENDRAN/AFP via Getty Images)"
We also compared elements in the viral picture with the original one.