SRINAGAR: In the fast forward politics of demand of supply, if the real stuff is not around, even fake can run. That is what happened on Saturday when some BJP leaders uploaded a photograph showing a tricolour on the Ghanta Ghar, located at the centre of Srinagar’s Lal Chowk.
What has changed since #5Aug2019?
Lal Chowk #Srinagar which had remained as symbol of #AntiIndia campaign by dynast politicians & #Jihadist forces, has now become Crown of Nationalism.#modihaitomumkinhai
Thanks my countrymen for electing @narendramodi @AmitShah #ModiSarkar pic.twitter.com/4g8doLRUdp
— Jamyang Tsering Namgyal (@jtnladakh) August 14, 2020
The photograph was projected as the “net change” a year after the BJP led government read-down Article 370 and scarped the special guarantees vital to the identity of the Jammu and Kashmir.
Given the fact that most of the people stayed home because of the security restrictions in Srinagar and that Lal Chowk has been an informal venue for unfurling the tri-colour by the BSF and the BJP in the past, people took it as truth. Even the social media saw the image getting viral as more and more BJP activists shared it. Interestingly some formal media groups also endorsed the image and reported about it.
However, a fact check by Altnews website led to the expose that the image is actually the Photoshop. No such thing has happened in the Lal Chowk. The media reported the main function from the Sher-i-Kashmir Cricket Stadium near the Gupkar Road.
“A simple reverse image search brings out the truth,” Altnews reported. “The national flag has been morphed into an old picture of deserted Lal Chowk. A blogpost on mubasshir.blogspot.com carried the picture in 2010. The cars on the left and the man walking can be seen in both the pictures, thus indicating that it is the same.”
Even after the newsbreak, the people who had uploaded the fake photo of a fake event, have not removed it.
At the time of reporting this item, there was nothing in Lal Chowk that would indicate that such a thing happened in Lal Chowk. The photograph uploaded by the right-wing shows details of the Lal Chowk that is completely different from the Lal Chowk of August 15, 2019.
