With the election of the West Bengal Assembly in 2021 starting in less than a month, from March 27, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress are getting ready for the state polls. Amid this, the arrest of Pamela Goswami on February 19, a leader of the BJP youth wing in Kolkata, who was found in possession of cocaine, is a setback for the party.
A photo of Goswami riding a bicycle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing the rounds on social media. It is said that Prime Minister Modi, who likes to be photographed, and Pamela Goswami, who likes to take cocaine, are seen together.
Various Facebook and Twitter users shared this picture widely. The caption to one such Facebook post in Hindi translates as: “Those who like to take pictures with the one who likes to take cocaine.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the image of Goswami riding a bicycle with PM Modi. Two separate photos, taken at two separate time points, were compiled in this viral post.
The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA investigation
Using a reverse image search, we found the original photo of Pamela Goswami on a bicycle Facebook post dated 1 December 2020. Goswami also marked another BJP member Anupam Mallik in her photo.
We also found the original photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting on a bicycle in a bicycle Indian Express news article entitled “Foreign tour of Narendra Modi: latest photos, videos from the USA, the Netherlands, Portugal” dated 28 June 2017. The caption on the photo reads: ‘Narendra Modi thanks the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for the gift of a brand new bike and poses for pictures that show off in the cycle ”.
The bike was donated to him by his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte at the end of his tour of three countries to Portugal, the United States and the Netherlands in 2017.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted photos of him on the bike thanking the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte for the gift on 28 June 2017.
After comparing the two original photos, we can clearly see that the viral picture of Pamela Goswami riding PM Modi bike has changed.
It is therefore clear that the photo distributed in which Pamela Goswami rides a bicycle with PM Modi has been changed.
(Input by Sonali Khatta)
ClaimPictured is BJP youth wing leader Pamela Goswami riding a bicycle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Goswami was recently arrested in Kolkata after police seized cocaine from her car. ClosureThe viral image of Pamela Goswami and Prime Minister Modi is changing. A 2017 photo of PM Modi on a bicycle has been edited into a 2020 picture of Goswami cycling.
JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE
The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.
- 1 Crow: Half true
- 2 crows: mostly lies
- 3 crows: absolutely false
