“Mahatma Gandhi was once a Sergeant Major in the British Army!” Read Fact-Check

A picture is becoming fiercely viral on social media sites. It is being claimed through this picture that the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi was once in the British army and he was also awarded two medals for his outstanding work.

Yogi Vishalananda-Brahma Energy Pranayoga specialist captioned, “Did you know? Mahatma Gandhi was once a Sergeant Major in the British Army and had also received two medals for his outstanding work in the British Army”. Tweeted a photo with this is a group pose. In this picture, the young Gandhi ji is seen behind, which has also been shown by highlighting.

A user Digvijay Mishra, captioned, “Is this the truth….you know Mahatma Gandhi was once a Sergeant Major in the British Army and he also got two medals for his brilliant work in the British Army, but yes Congressman’s eyes Savarkar is a traitor in me.” With the same picture posted on Facebook.

Fact Check:

On doing a reverse image search on the internet, this picture was found on the Alamy website. This photo is said to be about, “Mahatma Gandhi standing the sixth row from the left with the Secretary of the Passive Resisters Soccer Club, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1913, Miss Sonia Schlemiel.”

At the same time, we also found this picture of Gandhiji in an article published on the website of the Hindustan Times owned business newspaper Live Mint in June 2010, which was written as “When Bapu kicked the ball”. In this article, Gandhiji’s interest was in sports in his student life.

Conclusion:

This fact check of DFRAC proves that the claim being made through Bapu’s picture is contextless and misleading.

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Mobeen Ahmad

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