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| - Fact Check: Photoshopped onions add artificial flavour to simple photo of Sitharaman buying veggies
A photo of Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman shopping for veggies has been digitally edited to show her buying onions from a vendor.
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India Today Fact Check
Sitharaman did not buy onions from a vendor in Mylapore in Chennai on October 8. Onions were digitally added to the frame where she appeared to be buying wild yams.
"Main itna lehsun, pyaaz nahi khati hoon ji. Main aise pariwar se aati hoon jaha onion, pyaaz se matlab nahi rakhte (I do not eat a lot of onions and garlic. I come from a family where we don’t care much for onions).” Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said these words in December 2019 while responding to an opposition member during a debate in the Lok Sabha over an upswing in onion prices.
#WATCH: FM Sitharaman says "Main itna lehsun, pyaaz nahi khati hoon ji. Main aise pariwar se aati hoon jaha onion, pyaaz se matlab nahi rakhte" when an MP intervenes&asks her 'Aap pyaaz khaate hain?' while she was answering NCP's Supriya Sule's ques on production&price of onions. pic.twitter.com/i6OG7GN775 — ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2019
More than two years later — that has included a pandemic and subsequent global economic slowdown — the finance minister’s dietary choices somehow remain relevant in public discourse.
So, when Sitharaman went out to do some veggie shopping in Chennai on October 8, onions became the focal point of interparty trolling.
On Twitter, the Maharashtra Congress Sevadal shared a photo of Sitharaman allegedly buying onions from a street vendor. Twice, for some reason.
One of the tweets read, “Heard in Parliament that Sitharaman does not eat onions at all,” implying that she had earlier lied in the Lower House. The other enquired, sarcastically, if she was buying the onions for her neighbours. The archived versions of these tweets and others like them can be seen here and here.
AFWA found that this photo was edited and that Sitharaman did not actually purchase onions in Chennai that evening.
AFWA Probe
At the outset, it’s important to acknowledge that how often the minister consumes onions is beyond the scope of fact-checking. However, the photo being shared online is not.
The Office of the Finance Minister’s Twitter account shared several photos and a video of her veggie shopping. Nowhere in these could she be seen purchasing onions.
Some glimpses from Smt @nsitharaman's visit to Mylapore market in Chennai. https://t.co/GQiPiC5ui5 pic.twitter.com/fjuNVhfY8e — NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) October 8, 2022
In the video, we noted that the frame around the 50-second mark looked very similar to the viral photo featuring the notorious onions. Comparing the two, it became evident that the onions were digitally added to the frame where she appeared to be purchasing wild yams.
The Hindu reported that Sitharaman, while on a day-long trip to Chennai to inaugurate the Ananda Karuna Vidhyalayam, visited the South Mada Street in the Mylapore area. There, the daily reported, she bought Sundakkai (turkey berry), pidi karanai (wild yam), five bunches of mulai keerai (a kind of amaranth), and manathakkali keerai (black nightshade).
BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, who accompanied the Union Minister, said that Sitharaman had first stopped to buy “thandu keerai”, a variety of amaranth. In its unfortunate unavailability, she bought other vegetables. Srinivasan reportedly added that Sitharaman had spent many summers in Mylapore when she was young and knew the place well.
The Indian Express spoke to one of the vendors Sitharaman bought veggies from, who said the Minister paid Rs. 200 for her purchases. This report as well did not mention onions in the list of vegetables Sitharaman had purchased.
So, it’s more than evident that Sitharaman’s previous comments on onions became fodder for trolling her online. She didn’t buy onions that evening. But photoshopped bulbs of the veggie were used to add artificial flavour to a simple activity.
(Written by Yash Mittal)
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