Photo taken when Manmohan Singh was not a PM is shared with false claim
Claim
This picture is when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister and was on a visit to Bangladesh as per the protocol Manmohan Singh was supposed to sit with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh but on the seat where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was supposed to sit there is a modest Member of Parliament Antonio Maino aka Sonia Gandhi
Rating
Explanation
A photo of Sonia Gandhi and Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a meeting with Sheikh Hasina is shared with the claim that it was taken when Manmohan Singh was a Prime Minister and when he was on a visit to Bangladesh. It is also mentioned in the viral post that Manmohan Singh was supposed to take the main seat as per the protocol but Sonia Gandhi is seen taking it. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here and here.
The posts in Hindi read as “यह तस्वीर है जब मनमोहन सिंह प्रधानमंत्री थे और बांग्लादेश यात्रा पर थे प्रोटोकॉल के अनुसारबांग्लादेश की प्रधानमंत्री के साथ मनमोहन सिंह को बैठना था लेकिन उस सीट पर जहां प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह को बैठना था वहां एकमामूली संसद सदस्य एंटोनियो माइनो उर्फ सोनिया गांधी बैठी है”
What is the truth?
When searching with the relevant keywords, ANI’s tweet dated 6, October 2019 is found carrying a set of images captured from the same occasion as that of the viral image. The images are captioned as “Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Former Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Anand Sharma meet Bangladesh PM, Sheikh Hasina”. This proves that the photos were taken in Delhi.
With further search, the viral image is found posted on the official Twitter account of Congress on 6, October 2019 with the caption “Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Shri @AnandSharmaINC & the INC Delegation met with Bangladesh PM Smt. Sheikh Hasina.”
A video clip of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina is found uploaded on the Youtube channel of ‘Indian National Congress’ on 6, October 2019.
Manmohan Singh served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. And the viral video was captured in 2019 when he was not a PM. Moreover, Sonia Gandhi headed the meeting with Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh during her Presidentship of the Congress party. Another photo of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Ranil Wickremesinghe, Former PM of Sri Lanka is circulated with a similar claim. Youturn fact-checked and published an article on the same.
Read More: Was Manmohan Singh not given space by Sonia Gandhi to head a meeting when he was the PM?
Conclusion
It is found that the viral image was taken in 2019 in Delhi when Manmohan Singh was not a Prime Minister and when Sonia Gandhi was the President of the Congress Party. And hence the claim is false.
