Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) handles on Sunday shared an image of a packed Brigade Parade Ground from a 2019 Left rally to falsely claim that it is from March 7, 2021, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the same ground to campaign.
The same image was viral on February 28 when the Congress, Left parties and Indian Secular Front (ISF) held a rally at the Brigade ground to announce a third front, ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections.
The image, showing an aerial view of the massive crowd at the historical Brigade grounds, was shared to claim that there was a huge turnout at the rally which witnessed
speeches from PM Modi and Bengal BJP heavyweights, targeting the Mamata Banerjee led government. Actor and former politician Mithun Chakraborty also formally joined the BJP on March 7 at the ground. Bengal will go on polls from March 27 to elect 294 representatives for its Constituent Assembly.
The image was shared and soon deleted by several BJP handles including Tejinder Bagga, spokesperson of Delhi BJP, Swapan Dasgupta, Member of Rajya Sabha, Bhanu Jalan, IT cell incharge of Jharkhand BJP, after netizens pointed out that it is not related to the March 7 BJP rally at the Brigade.The Brigade Parade Ground is an iconic location for its political rallies organised by the Left front parties when in rule in West Bengal.
The verified handle of BJP Punjab also posted the image with the caption, "I've been fortunate enough to address hundreds of rallies in political life, but in such a long term I've ever been blessed with such a huge crowd I've seen today. - PM Mr.#NarendraModi #ModirSatheBrigade"
(Original texts in Hindi: राजनीतिक जीवन में सैकड़ों रैलियों को संबोधित करने का सौभाग्य मिला है, लेकिन इतने लंबे कार्यकाल में मैंने कभी इतने बड़े विशाल जन समूह का हमें आशीर्वाद मिला हो ऐसा दृश्य मुझे आज देखने को मिला है। - पीएम श्री #NarendraModi जी)
Click here to see the post.
Gayathri Raguramm, president of the art and culture wing of BJP, Tamil Nadu, tweeted the image with the caption "Modi Ocean in Bengal."
The tweet is archived here.
A fan account of Mithun Chakraborty also tweeted the image.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on the image and found the picture in several articles from 2019.
Reports published in websites Peoples Dispatch, Peoples Democracy and Social News in February 2019 use the same image stating that thousands of Left parties workers had attended a Left Front-led rally held at Kolkata's Brigade Parade ground on February 3, 2019. According to the reports, the rally was held against the BJP-led government at the centre and the TMC-led government in the state.
The same picture published on India Content website with a captions 'Kolkata Workers of leftist parties participate in a Left Front rally at the Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata on Feb 3 2019' credits wire agency IANS for the photo.
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