A photo of Rahul Gandhi with UK's former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is being shared with a false claim that Gandhi was photographed with the producer of the BBC Documentary 'India: The Modi Question', which criticises the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The photo shows Gandhi on the left, Jeremy Corbyn in the centre, and Sam Pitroda, chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, on the right. It is being shared with a claim that misidentifies Corbyn as the producer of the BBC documentary that is critical of Modi.
Viral posts have claimed that Gandhi had met the producer of the documentary six months ago, suggesting that he was the one behind making it.
Part one of the documentary, which is about the 2002 Gujarat riots, reveals a never-before-published report that a British inquiry team had sent to the United Kingdom government. The report says that Modi, then chief minister of the state, was “directly responsible for a climate of impunity” that led to the violence in the Gujarat riots. India's external affairs ministry dismissed the documentary calling it "propaganda". The government also directed Twitter and YouTube to take down links to the documentary. Read more about it here.
The image of Rahul Gandhi meeting Jeremy Corbyn is being shared in this context.
A post on Facebook claimed, "Now you know why BBC made that documentary & who funded it ."
Click here to view.
Click here to view.
The post is also circulating on Twitter.
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the man standing between Pitroda and Gandhi is not the producer of the BBC documentary, but is an MP and former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
A reverse image search of the image led us to several news reports published in May 2022 that mentioned Rahul Gandhi's meet with Corbyn and Pitroda.
Click here to view.
Here are similar reports by India Today and NDTV.
Sam Pitroda also issued a clarification on Twitter while sharing the photo and wrote, "In this photo, the First is @RahulGandhi, and the person in the middle is my friend @jeremycorbyn, with me. Mr. Corbyn is a British Politician (here is a link to his Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn) and not a @BBC executive. @BBCNews @BBCTwo."
When the picture first went viral in May 2022, it became a controversial subject in India, with the BJP accusing Rahul Gandhi of meeting Corbyn and alleging the latter's views were "anti-India". Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju wrote on Twitter, "Again.. Rahul Gandhi meets UK MP and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who is known for his hatred and dislike for India, advocates Kashmir’s secession. For how long and how much one can go on against one's own country?"
The Congress retaliated by sharing a photo of PM Modi with Corbyn.
The BBC's website, in its credits, lists two men as the producers of the documentary. The first is series producer, Richard Cookson, and the second is executive producer Mike Radford. The documentary has so far not been released in India.
