An image of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab leader Bhagwant Mann sitting in front of a liquor shop is edited and fake. BOOM found that the original photos shows them sitting in the midst of a green field and that the liquor shop see in the background of the viral photo has been added to it to make the false claim.
In the photo, Kejriwal and Mann can be seen sitting together with their back towards a closed liquor shop. The name on the shop when translated reads, "Desi alcohol store shop and English liquor store'
Punjab assembly elections are scheduled to be held on February 20, 2022. Media reports say that Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party is seen as a front contender among the opposition parties in the state to the ruling Congress government.
The photo was tweeted by BJP Delhi's social media-in-charge Naveen Kumar Jindal and Punjab Youth Congress's official Twitter handles. BOOM has previously fact-checked Jindal for sharing misinformation.
Jindal tweeted the photo with the caption when translated reads, "Both are sitting exactly in their respective places."
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(In Hindi - दोनों अपने अपने ठिकाने पर बिलकुल सही बैठे है।)
The same photo was also tweeted by Punjab Youth Congress saying "Caption this"
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Also Read: Photo Of A Hindu And Muslim Man Holding A Congress Poster Is Morphed
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral image is edited with the background of the liquor shop added to the original to support the false claim.
A relevant keyword search led us to the original photo in a The Tribune article on Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann meeting farmers in Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's constituency Chamkaur Sahib. We can see the same photo, where both are sitting together, however, there are fields in the background and not an alcohol store.
The report further adds that in a short video of the meeting released by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on January 14, 2022, Kejriwal and Mann are seen sitting on a cot placed in the mustard fields and interacting with farmers.
We also found the video mentioned in the news report from which the screengrab is taken. The original video was uploaded on the official YouTube channel of AAP. At the 34 seconds timestamp we can see the same screengrab.
Additionally, the alcohol store seen the background of the viral photo has been taken from an unrelated story published by the Hindi news outlet, Patrika story on February 4, 2020. We can see the same liquor shop in this original photo.
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