A photo is being shared on social media with a claim that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh wrote ‘Om’ and ‘Swastik’ symbols on the Rafale fighter jet during the Rafale induction ceremony at Ambala airbase on 10 September 2020. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh writing ‘Om’ and ‘Swastik’ symbols on Rafale fighter jet in Ambala.
Fact: Photo shared in the post is an edited one. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh wrote ‘Om’ symbol on Rafale fighter jet while doing ‘shastra pooja’ during the Rafale fighter jet handover ceremony at France in 2019. However, in the original photo related to the Rafale Induction ceremony on ‘10 September 2020’, ‘Om’ and ‘Swastik’ were not written on the Rafale fighter jet. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, a similar photo was found in a tweet posted by ANI news channel on ‘10 September 2020’. In the original photo, there are no symbols of ‘Om’ and ‘Swastik’ on the Rafale fighter Jet. Also, in the edited version of the photo, Rajnath Singh is seen with no legs.
On further research, it is found that the Rajnath Singh photo in the post is taken from his last year’s visit to France. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did ‘Shastra pooja’ during the Rafale handover ceremony at the Dassault aviation plant in Merignac, France on ‘08 October 2019’. During this ceremony, Rajnath Singh was seen writing ‘Om’ symbol on Rafale fighter jet.
Further, the attire Defence Minister Rajnath Singh wore during the Rafale Induction ceremony at Ambala airbase on ‘10 September 2020’ is different from what is shown in the post.
In a tweet, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh mentioned that ‘Sarva Darma Pooja’ was conducted during the Rafale Induction ceremony at Ambala airbase.
To sum it up, an edited photo is being shared with a false claim that Rajnath Singh wrote ‘Om’ and ‘Swastik’ symbols on Rafale fighter jet during the induction ceremony at Ambala airbase.
