An old photo from China is falsely shared as showing the crowd at Sunita Kejriwal’s rally in Gujarat - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 6, 2024
A photo depicting a large crowd is circulating alongside claims that it shows the gathering at Sunita Kejriwal’s roadshow in Gujarat, held in protest against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal (here & here). This article aims to verify the accuracy of the claim associated with the photo.
Claim: Photo depicting a large crowd at Sunita Kejriwal’s roadshow in Gujarat, held in protest against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal.
Fact: The viral photo, taken in 2008, captures a crowd in China gathered to welcome the Olympic torch. Although Sunita Kejriwal has held roadshows in Gujarat, this photo is not associated with those events. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Sunita Kejriwal has conducted roadshows in Gujarat as part of the election campaign, where she also spoke out against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal (here & here). However, the photo being circulated is not from any of these events held in Gujarat.
A reverse image search of the viral photo led to a similar photo on the stock photo repository Flickr, uploaded in 2008. According to the accompanying description, the photo shows a crowd in Guangzhou city, China, gathered to welcome the Olympic torch.
Additional news reports from 2008, which published the same photo asserting that a large crowd gathered to welcome the Olympic torch, can be viewed here and here. This evidence confirms that the viral photo is not from Gujarat and is unrelated to Kejriwal. The same photo is being shared with claims that it depicts a crowd at a Modi roadshow in Kolhapur.
To sum up, an old photo from China is being falsely shared as showing a crowd gathered at Sunita Kejriwal’s rally in Gujarat.