The Congress ecosystem continues to play petty politics over the recent violent clash between the Indian Army and the Chinese troops in which our country lost 20 of its brave soldiers. Today, a black and white picture of former Prime Minister and Congress leader Indira Gandhi addressing soldiers in the backdrop of a mountain range is being extensively shared on various social media platforms, especially by the Congress party.
The verified Twitter handle of Uttar Pradesh Congress was first to share the black and white picture with claims that Indira Gandhi is seen here addressing soldiers at Galwan Valley.
Soon after, the picture was also shared by Twitter handles such as Indira Gandhi and Spirit of Congress claiming that the Galwan Valley which belonged to India during the UPA regime now belongs to China.
The same picture was retweeted by the verified Twitter handle of Delhi Congress and Congress leader Alka Lamba.
Congress also took to Facebook to make similar claims. Several verified Facebook pages such as Indian National Congress – Uttar Pradesh, Indian Youth Congress and U.P East Youth Congress have posted the same content.
The image is from Leh, not Galwan Valley
Congress, going by its penchant has once again made a malicious and untrue claim. This black and white image of Indira Gandhi addressing soldiers in not of Galwan Valley but of the former PM addressing soldiers in Leh in the year 1971. The picture which was being widely circulated by Congress with misleading claims was actually published by news agency Press Trust of India in 1971 in Leh, which is around 220 kilometres from the conflict zone of Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
The search for the original source for the picture was found in PTI archives. According to PTI, this picture was taken in Leh in 1971. The news agency has given the picture courtesy to DPR (Defence).
This picture was also used in an article on Indira Gandhi on the website art-sheep.com. The caption under the picture says, “One of the rare pictures of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi addressing jawans in Leh in 1971.”
Hence, it becomes sufficiently clear that the viral picture of former PM late Indira Gandhi addressing soldiers is not from Galwan Valley but Leh, and that the Congress ecosystem has once again peddled misleading and fake claims to malign the Modi government. Even though Rahul Gandhi’s each and every attempt to use the Sino-India border issue to target the Modi government has boomeranged recently, his party seems not to let go.
