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  • 2022-02-09 (xsd:date)
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  • Photo of Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi eating with weavers shared with misleading claim (en)
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  • A photo of the de facto head of India's main opposition party Rahul Gandhi sitting with a group of women while wearing a face mask has been shared thousands of times in social media posts that claim he pretended to dine with them for a publicity stunt . The misleading posts circulated online ahead of various sub-national elections in India, for which Gandhi's Congress party is the main opposition. In fact, the image shows him at an event in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu in 2021 when other news footage captured him eating with the group. The photo was shared on Twitter by Arun Yadav, a member of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The Hindi-language tweet translates to English as: [Gandhi] is the first man to eat while wearing a mask. The post has been retweeted more than 3,000 times since January 26, 2022. A screenshot of the misleading post taken on February 3, 2022 Gandhi is the leader of the Indian National Congress , the main political opposition to the country's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP. The misleading post circulated online ahead of various sub-national elections in India, including for Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state. Similar posts were also shared here and here on Facebook, and here and here on Twitter. Comments from some users indicated they were misled by the posts. He will just pose and then walk away to eat in some five-star hotel after getting photographed , one wrote. He followed the script and the script did not mention removing the mask, said another. However, other Indian news reports of the same event in 2021 show Gandhi in fact took his mask off and ate with the women. Keyword searches found the photo corresponds to this video report aired by Indian news organisation Puthiyathalaimurai TV on January 24, 2021. The report is about Gandhi's campaign visit for the 2021 polls in Tamil Nadu where he met with some female weavers. He also had a feast with the weavers, the reporter in the video states. Below is a screenshot of the frame in the video report: Further keyword searches found Twitter posts by Congress accounts here and here with photos of a maskless Gandhi preparing to eat. Local news channel India Today reported on the event here on January 24, 2021. The report also states Gandhi ate with the women. It reads in part: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi turned up the heat ahead of Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. The former party president and sitting Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Wayanad district took part in roadshows at Poondurai, Perundurai and Uthukuli in Tamil Nadu's Erode district and had lunch with weavers at Odanilai before addressing an election campaign event in Dharapuram town, Tiruppur district. (en)
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