A 6 year old photo of stamped rotis is viral as post COVID-19 lockdown meal to poor.
Photos from year 2014 of Indian bread ‘Roti’ with “Abki Bar Modi Sarkar” stamped on it is viral falsely complaining the government to be ashamed such publicity in such tough times i.e. Corona Pandemic.
Claim: “क्या शर्म नहीं आनी चाहिए इस सरकार को
दूसरों को नसीहत दे रहे है, कि इस वक्त कोई राजनैतिक प्रचार प्रसार ना करें ।
और इन लोग ने तो रोटी में ही राजनीति घोल दी।”
Translation: “Shouldn’t the government be ashamed, they are advising other parties not to spread propaganda during these tough times, but they themselves dissolved politics and propaganda in these rotis.”
Actress Kavita Kaushik retweeted a tweet
Since PM Modi announced the lockdown, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the survival of the migrant labor became hard, some of them began their journey on foot to their homes, while some of them stayed where they are.
A series of posts came up where it was claimed and implied that the Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP) served rotis to the poor with, “Ab ki Baar, Modi Sarkaar” stamped on it during the lockdown because of COVID-19.
The image went viral on Facebook and Twitter several times, with the texts changing but with the same implication, where people claimed that the BJP was doing so for its party politics and popularity during the time of a pandemic.
The post read, “Branding the bread, जिस देश मे सरकार जनता के पैसे से जनता को दी हुई रोटी पर खुद की मोहर लगाकर दे रही हो ,उस देश का भविष्य अपने आप दिख जाता …”
Translation: “Branding the bread, in the country where the government serves stamped food to the public, from the money given to them by public, it shows the country’s future.”
The text changed in one of the post, it read,
“भाजपा वाले गरीबों की रोटी पर भी अपने चुनावी प्रचार का ठप्पा लगा रहे हैं। यह ठप्पा मजदूरों की रोटी पर ही नहीं बल्कि मुल्क के गरीबों एवं मजदूरों के गाल पर तमांचा भी है। बहुत ही शर्मनाक कृत्य! – सूरज कुमार बौद्ध”
Translation: “BJP people are offering their election propaganda on the bread of poor people. This slap is not only on the bread of the workers but also on the cheek of the poor and workers of the country. Very Shameful Act!
– Suraj Kumar Buddhist.”
The image was widely shared on Facebook:
The image and the post were also widely shared on Twitter, read,
“भाइयो बहनो,
तुम मेरे गिरने की बेहद सी हद तो देखो !
हम भूखों की रोटी को भी प्रचार का साधन बना लेंगें!!”
Translation: “Brothers and sisters, look at this limit of my fall, we publicize the poor’s food.”
भाइयो बहनो,
तुम मेरे गिरने की बेहद सी हद तो देखो !
हम रोटी को भी प्रचार का साधन बना लेंगें !! pic.twitter.com/AilbKsR4gM— Jai Singh Bhadauria (@bhadauriajai786) April 2, 2020
भाइयो बहनो,
तुम मेरे गिरने की बेहद सी हद तो देखो !
हम भूखों की रोटी को भी प्रचार का साधन बना लेंगें। pic.twitter.com/HUIKPohfBC— Babu gautam (@babupunjab) April 3, 2020
Truth
Upon looking at the image, we did a Google Reverse Image Search, we came across a video news report by NDTV, which was reported in 2014. The image made viral is a screenshot taken from the video.
The video was shot as a news report in Varanasi by NDTV during the 2014 General Election. It is of Hotel Yadav, Varanasi, where these Rotis were made, according to the hotel owner the Rotis were becoming quite popular but soon they started receiving backlash from other political parties and people. The hotel was then forced to stop making the rotis with the stamp.
Even though the image now that is going viral, does not mention any date or place but in the given scenario of the lockdown, it wrongly suggests that it is a recent work. Hence, the conclusion that is has been wrongly circulated to blame the BJP, to show that they are trying to spread propaganda by circulating an old image.
