A very old photograph of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is being widely shared on social media. The photograph shows Rajiv Gandhi along with Rahul Gandhi and several other people. In the viral image, a man can be seen carrying two suitcases. Users are claiming that the man carrying the suitcases is current Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Sharing the photograph, one user wrote, “Who is the person carrying the suitcase? He is Mallikarjun Kharge, who considers himself the biggest Dalit and is currently the Congress president and a sycophant of the Gandhi family. He has become president today in return for doing this work. This shows the respect the Gandhi family had for Dalits, who were treated like servants. Now you can decide who is anti-Dalit…..!”
Another user, Janardan Mishra, shared the viral photograph with the caption, “He stood then, and he still stands today, Mr Kharge…….”
Several other users have also shared the photograph claiming that the man is Mallikarjun Kharge, which can be seen here and here.
Fact check:
DFRAC’s investigation found that the claim is misleading. Mallikarjun Kharge is not the man seen carrying the suitcases in the viral photograph. The man is Siddharth Reddy, who was an associate of Rajiv Gandhi. Speaking to DFRAC about the photograph, Pranav Jha, Communication In-charge at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s office, said that the man is Siddharth Reddy, who was a friend of Rajiv Gandhi. He added that Reddy was married to Tara Devi, who had served as a Member of Parliament from Karnataka.
To investigate the viral photograph, we first conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens. We found the same photograph posted by Rahul Gandhi on May 21, 2024. In the caption, Rahul Gandhi remembered his father Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary and wrote, “Papa, your dreams, my dreams, your aspirations, my responsibilities. Your memories, today and always, forever in my heart.”
For further investigation, we searched for photographs of Mallikarjun Kharge from his younger days. We found a photograph posted by Kharge on May 21, 2021, in which he can be seen with Rajiv Gandhi. A comparison of this photograph with the viral image makes it clear that the man seen carrying the suitcases is not Mallikarjun Kharge.
During our search for photographs of Mallikarjun Kharge from his younger days, we also found several photographs of him published on the Zee News Kannada website. These photographs show that Kharge’s appearance during his younger years is clearly different from that of the man seen in the viral photograph.
We are providing a collage showing that the man seen in the viral photograph is not Mallikarjun Kharge.
We also found that the man seen in the viral photograph is Siddharth Reddy. During our search about Siddharth Reddy, we found a report published by TV9 Telugu on June 11, 2021. The report contains two photographs of Siddharth Reddy with Rajiv Gandhi. A comparison of these photographs indicates that the man in the viral photograph appears to be Siddharth Reddy, as can be seen in the collage below. The TV9 Telugu report stated that Siddharth Reddy, founder of the magazine Politics Party.com, had passed away. An engineer by profession, Siddharth Reddy was very close to Rajiv Gandhi. The report stated that Reddy supported Rajiv Gandhi both when he was Prime Minister and when he was in the opposition. After Rajiv Gandhi’s death, Reddy joined the BJP and also served as a member of the party’s National Executive.
For further verification, our team contacted Pranav Jha, Communication In-charge at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s office. Jha told us that the man was Siddharth Reddy, who was a friend of Rajiv Gandhi. He also said that Reddy was married to Tara Devi, who had served as a Member of Parliament from Karnataka.
Conclusion:
DFRAC’s fact check makes it clear that the man carrying the suitcases in the old photograph of Rajiv Gandhi being shared on social media is Siddharth Reddy, not Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Therefore, the claim identifying the man as Mallikarjun Kharge is misleading.
| Claim Review | It is Mallikarjun Kharge carrying Rajiv Gandhi’s suitcase. |
| Claimed By | X Users |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
Our Sources:
- Post by Rahul Gandhi on May 21st, 2024
- Post By Mallikarjun Kharge on May 21st, 2021
- News Coverage by Zee News Kannada on November 6, 2022
- News Coverage by TV-9 Telugu on June 11th, 2021
- Pranav Jha, in-charge communication, congress president’s office statement to DFRAC
