Nitin Gadkari is not reading Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘apology letter’ in this image.
Claim
In this photo there is “Nitin Gadkari” ji with Kejriwal ji!
Now don’t think that Kejriwal has gone to Delhi to discuss some “road project”!
Kejriwal ji has gone to Nitin Gadkari to apologize in writing, Gadkari ji reading out the “apology”!
Rating
Explanation
An image of Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, and Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister with a paper in his hand is shared widely to claim that Nitin Gadkari is reading Arvind Kejriwal’s apology letter. Some of the posts carrying the viral image with the same claim can be seen here and here. This image is viral since 2015 with a similar claim and has resurfaced now again.
Some of the posts in Hindi read as “इस फोटो में केजरीवाल जी के साथ “नितीन गडकरी “ जी है ! अब आप ये नासोचियेगा कि, केजरीवाल जी दिल्ली के लिए कोई ” सड़क परियोजना ” पर चर्चा करने गए है ! केजरीवाल जी नितीन गडकरी कोलिखित में ” माफी ” मांगने गए है, गडकरी जी ” माफ़ीनामा ” पढ़ते हुए!”
What is the truth?
When reverse-searching the viral image we found no relevant results. When searching with the keywords ‘getty images’, and ‘Hindustan Times’ (as seen in the viral image) along with the keywords relevant to the claim we found the original image on the Getty Images website.
The image is titled “AAP Leader Arvind Kejriwal Met Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari On Regularizing E-Rickshaws”. The image is of a meeting on regularizing e-rickshaws at Transport Bhawan on September 16, 2014, in New Delhi, India.
With further search, we found Amar Ujala article dated September 2014 with a different photo from the same occasion mentioning it as a meeting on regularizing e-rickshaws.
ANI tweeted another photo from the same occasion on 16, September 2014 with the caption “Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal meets Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari over the e-rickshaw issue”.
In 2014, Nitin Gadkari filed a defamation case in court against Arvind Kejriwal for including his name in Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘India’s most corrupt” list. And later in 2018, AAP leader Kejriwal submitted a letter to Gadkari seeking apology regretting that he had made certain unverified statements. The Times of India and Times Now news also reported on it in March 2018.
Nitin Gadkari has withdrawn his complaint following the apology letter from Kejriwal. The complaint letter is found in an article dated March 2018 by India Today.
Conclusion
It is found that an image of a meeting on regularizing e-rickshaws in 2014 is shared to falsely claim that Nitin Gadkari is reading Arvind Kejriwal’s apology letter. It is to be noted that in 2018, Arvind Kejriwal submitted an apology letter to Nitin Gadkari regretting his unverified allegations about Gadkari.
