UP government introduced GST on Church offerings? No, it’s an edited newspaper clipping - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 21, 2021
A newspaper clipping is being shared on social media with a claim that the Uttar Pradesh BJP government introduced 6% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Sunday Church Mass offertory money. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Newspaper clipping about UP BJP government introducing 6% GST on Sunday Church Mass offertory money.
Fact: It is an edited newspaper clipping. The original newspaper was published on 11 January 2010 i.e. much before the government started imposing GST in the country. Also, no information was found regarding the UP BJP government introducing 6% GST on Sunday Church Mass offertory money. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the photo was run through Google Reverse Image Search, the complete image of the same newspaper clipping was found in the search results. But the headline mentioned in the social media post is not on this page.  The original headline reads – ‘Ex-PM Gowda spews abuse at K’taka CM’, an incident which took place in January 2010. Also, in the posted newspaper clipping, it can be seen that the headline of the UP article is not centrally aligned (all other major headlines in the newspaper are centrally aligned) and the photo of H D Deve Gowda can be seen.
The newspaper image was found on the ‘Kisko’ website. It mentions that the newspaper was published on 11 January 2010. Some of the articles mentioned in the newspaper image can be found published on the website of ‘The Times of India’ on 11 January 2010. Also, Zaheer Khan photo was published in the 11 January 2010 newspaper because he won the ‘Man of the Match’ for his performance in India vs Sri Lanka match at Dhaka on 10 January 2010.  However, GST came into effect on 01 July 2017. So, it can be concluded that the posted newspaper clipping is edited. Also, no information was found regarding the UP BJP government introducing 6% GST on Sunday Church Mass offertory money.
To sum it up, edited newspaper clipping is being shared to falsely claim that the UP BJP government introduced GST on Sunday Church Mass offertory money.