A photo from Congress party's three-day Chintan Shivir being held in Rajasthan has been shared on social media with captions falsely claiming that the colour of Pakistan's flag (green) had been used to decorate the ceiling of the venue while a saffron-coloured carpet covered the floor.
BOOM found that the ceiling of the Congress' Chitan Shivir venue was covered in the three colours of Indian flag i.e. saffron, white and green. A Congress party member attending the meeting told BOOM that the colour of the carpet covering the floor was brick red.
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Starting Friday, the three-day-long Chintan Shivir in Udaipur was organised to boost the party's strategy and organisational reform ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections including those in Rajasthan.
According to an Indian Express report, the Congress Working Committee meeting was attended by the top leaders of the party including party chief Sonia Gandhi, former president Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram among others. The viral image has been shared in this backdrop.
The image shows green and white cloths covering the ceiling while an orange-coloured carpet covering the floor.
The image was tweeted from the verified handle of former Mayor of South Delhi Municipal Corporation Kamaljeet Sehrawat. The tweet in Hindi translates to 'This is the truth of Congress. This is a picture of Congress Party's Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, Rajasthan in which the colour of the flag of Pakistan has been put up and the colour saffron has been put down'.
(Hindi: ये है कांग्रेस की सच्चाई..!! ये राजस्थान के उदयपुर में चल रहे कांग्रेस पार्टी के चिंतन शिविर की तस्वीर है !! जिसमें पाकिस्तान के झंड़े के रंग को ऊपर लगाया है और भगवा रंग को नीचे)
View the archived tweet here.
Fact Check
BOOM found that the official handle of INC India had tweeted four images, including the one that is viral now, on May 14, 2022. The tweet was captioned 'Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi presides over a meeting of AICC General Sectaries, in-charges, PCC Presidents & CLPs'.
In one of the images tweeted by the Congress, one can clearly see that the colours of the cloths covering the ceiling are saffron, white and green.
We found more images clicked from different angle showing the Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi addressing the party leaders at the Chintan Shivir at the same venue. The cloths on the ceiling are clearly visible here.
BOOM then reached out to Shesh Narayan Ojha, National Secretary of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) to get more information about the viral claims. Ojha told BOOM that the colour of the carpet at the Chintan Shivir was brick red. He also shared some images from the event with BOOM.
BOOM also spoke to Sitaram Lamba, General Secretary, Indian Youth Congress, and President Rajasthan Youth Board who is attending the meet since the past two days.
Speaking to BOOM, Lamba said, "The claim is totally fake."
Additional Reporting by Runjay Kumar.