By Sk Badiruddin
An old image of a huge crowd photographed on a ground has been falsely shared as common people's gathering at Ballari, Karnataka, to support the Bharat Jodo Yatra, that is currently traversing through the state of Andhra Pradesh.
BOOM found the image is old and reportedly from an event by Christian evangelist Reinhard Bonnke in Nigeria.
The march, which began on September 7, 2022 in Kanyakumari, recently crossed the 1000 km mark after it reached Ballari in Karnataka . It is now traversing through Andhra Pradesh.
The viral image has been shared by several social media users including a page that calls itself the IT and Social Media wing of the Indian National Congress. The image has been shared with the caption, "View of Bellary general assembly during Rahul Gandhi's #Bharat_Jodo_Yatra. Historical, amazing and unimaginable!"
View the Facebook post here.
(Original caption in Hindi: राहुल गांधी की #भारत_जोड़ो_यात्रा के दौरान बेल्लारी की आमसभा का दृश्य। ऐतिहासिक, अद्भुत और अकल्पनीय!)
The same image has also been used in a graphic and shared with a Malayalam caption that reads, "Congress is emerging as a ray of hope in the dark times of the country and we are continuing our journey to reclaim the soul of India."
View two Facebook posts here and here.
Two archived tweets with the same claim can be seen here and here.
(Original caption in Malayalam: രാജ്യത്തിന്റെ ഇരുളടഞ്ഞ കാലത്ത് പ്രതീക്ഷയുടെ കിരണമായി കോൺഗ്രസ് ഉയർന്നുവരികയാണ് നമ്മൾ പ്രയാണം തുടരുകയാണ് ഇന്ത്യയുടെ ആത്മാവിനെ വീണ്ടെടുക്കാൻ)
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search and found the same image used in an article that was published in a few evangelical sites. The image is reportedly from an event by Christian evangelist Reinhard Bonnke in Nigeria.
The image was used in a Dutch blog in 2015 with the caption , "Healing service with Reinhard Bonnke in Nigeria. (Photo: Cfan)". We also found the image on a 2014 article on an Evangelical site, The Cripplegate.
The image was also featured in a 2020 article published on the website of University of Leiden, Netherlands which claimed that the event is a faith-healing one that was organised in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. A Slovakian site also reported the image in 2010 and stated that the event is a celebration of Reinhard Bonnke's 50 years of service to the Lord.
Taking cue from this, we did an image search with keywords "Nigeria Reinhard Bonnke" on Google and found the same image that was posted on a Facebook page named "Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke Official page" in July, 2020. The post claimed that the photograph was clicked in Ogbomosho, Nigeria in 2002.
We found similarity of the viral image and the image that was posted on Facebook. Here is a comparison below.
According to aBBC article late German-borne evangelist Bonnke played a crucial role to promote Christianity in South African nations.
While BOOM could not independently verify where the image is from, the photograph has been on the internet since 2010, thus establishing that it is not from the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
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