A photo showing former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad meeting Home Minister Amit Shah along with Research and Analysis Wing of India (R&AW) Director Samant Kumar Goel,is morphed and has been heavily edited.
BOOM found that both Azad and Goel have been edited into the viral photo to make the claim that the former Congress leader met with Shah days before he resigned from the party.
On August 26, 2022, Azad, a Congress veteran leader from Jammu and Kashmir quit the party after almost five decades and wrote a scathing resignation letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The viral photo was tweeted by Madhya Pradesh Congress Sevadal's official Twitter account with the caption when translated reads, "This photo shows Ghulam Nabi Azad before he gained freedom from Congress, when he went to Amit Shah to take an appointment with the friend who used to catch crocodiles during his childhood."
(In Hindi - #गुलाम_नबी_आजाद ही #अब्बास हैं. ये फोटो गुलाम नबी आजाद का कांग्रेस से #आजादी लेने से दो दिन पहले का है, जब वो बचपन के #मगरमच्छ पकड़ने वाले दोस्त से मुलाकात का समय लेने के लिए अमित शाह के पास गये थे। #आजाद हुए #गुलाम @ghulamnazad)
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The viral photo is being shared on Twitter with the false claim
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BOOM also received the viral photo on our WhatsApp tipline number (77009 06588).
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo is morphed and in the original photo, neither former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad nor R&AW Director Samant Kumar Goel are present in the meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.
We then ran a reverse image search using Google Images which search results showed an NDTV article from September 30, 2021, with the original photo. Shah had met with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and then Goa Minister of Science and Technology Michael Lobo to discuss various issues including the 2022 Goa Assembly elections and the torrential Maharashtra rains.
In the original photo, Azad and Goel are not present in the meeting with Shah.
Fadnavis tweeted the photo on September 30, 2021, with the caption, "Met our leader, Hon Union HM @AmitShah ji to brief and to seek guidance for #GoaAssemblyElections in New Delhi yesterday. Goa Minister @MichaelLobo76 too joined. Hon Amit Bhai also took detailed information on recent #MaharashtraRains & flood situation especially in Marathwada."
Comparing the viral photo with the original one, we found that it has been heavily edited and morphed. Firstly, the photo has been flipped to make it hard to find through a reverse image search. A photo of Azad has been edited in place of Lobo sitting in the original photo and Fadnavis's face is swapped with Goel's face. Lastly, the photo frame of Ram Mandir on the wall is not present in the original photo which has been edited into the viral photo.