A photo of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray watching ‘Republic TV’ news channel is being circulated on social media claiming that CM Uddhav Thackeray is also one of the recruited members to increase the TRP of ‘Republic TV’ news channel. Amidst the TRP scam allegations on ‘Republic TV’ channel and their CEO, this sarcastic post is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray watching ‘Republic TV’ news channel.
Fact: Photo shared in the post is the morphed version of the original photo that shows Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray interacting with the PM Narendra Modi via video conference on COVID-19 preparedness during the lockdown period. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the original photo was found in the news gallery article published on ‘Outlook India’ website. In this photo, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray is seen interacting with PM Narendra Modi via video conference. The description of the photo mentions that it was captured when CM Uddhav Thackeray interacted with PM Narendra Modi on COVID-19 preparedness during the Nationwide lockdown.
Sharing the original photo, the official twitter handle of Chief Minister Office of Maharashtra posted a tweet on ‘27 April 2020’. This tweet also mentions that the photo was captured during an ongoing video conference of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah with other states Chief Ministers. The same photo can be seen in a tweet posted by ‘Mumbai Mirror’ on ‘27 April 2020’.
In the photo shared in the post, “Can’tBlockRepublic” hashtag can be seen on ‘Republic TV’ screen. On searching for this bulletin using these keywords, a clip of the show telecast with this hashtag “Can’tBlockRepublic” on ‘Republic TV’ was found in the official ‘Republic TV’ YouTube channel. This video was posted on ‘11 September 2020’ on YouTube. ‘Republic TV’ news channel shared this video on their official twitter handle.
This screenshot of ‘Republic TV’ is inserted into the photo captured during the video conference of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray with PM Narendra Modi, and is being shared with a misleading narrative.
To sum it up, this photo of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray watching ‘Republic TV’ news channel is a morphed one.
