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| - Fact Check: Did Indira Gandhi enter JNU with police and force Sitaram Yechury to apologise?
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the picture is not from JNU but was taken from outside the residence of Indira Gandhi.
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India Today Fact Check
Indira Gandhi did not enter JNU with police and beat Sitaram Yechury. She did not force Yechury to resign or read an apology for protesting against Emergency.
During Emergency in 1975 did the then prime minister Indira Gandhi enter JNU with police and beat up Sitaram Yechury? Did she force him to resign and read out an apology? Well, an old black and white photograph in which former prime minister and the Communist party leader Yechury can be seen, has been shared widely on social media claiming exactly this.
In the viral picture, Gandhi is standing before a large crowd with folded arms while next to her, Yechury is reading from a paper. Yechury is currently a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau. In 1975 he was in JNU as a student of economics.
THE CLAIM
Facebook page 'Deshbhakt, The Patriot' uploaded a post saying, "1975, Emergency. Indira Gandhi enters JNU with Delhi Police and beats CPI leader, Sitaram Yechury who was at that time president of the JNU Students' Union and forces him to resign and read an apology letter for protesting against Emergency. This is called Iron Hand dealing with communists. Amit Shah looks saint in front of her."
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Few other Facebook and Twitter users have shared the same claim.
THE TRUTH
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the picture is not from JNU but was taken from outside the residence of Indira Gandhi. It was taken in 1977 when Emergency had ended. Yechury was elected as JNU Students' Union president in 1977 and had led a protest seeking Indira Gandhi's resignation as chancellor of the university. In the photo, Yechury was reading out the demands of the students' union which Gandhi was listening to.
WHERE DID IT HAPPEN
With the help of reverse search, we found many articles related to this incident.
According to reports like that of India Resists and Hindustan Times, Yechury had led the students of JNU to the residence of Indira Gandhi.
After the Emergency, Gandhi had lost the general elections in 1977 but continued to remain the chancellor of the university. It was against this the students were protesting. The picture is not from JNU but outside the residence of Indira Gandhi. She had come out of her residence to listen to the demands of the students and resigned from the post the next day.
WHEN DID IT HAPPEN
The website of CPI(M) which has a profile of the veteran leader also confirms that Yechury became the president of the students' union at JNU only in 1977. Yechury joined the CPI(M) and was even arrested in 1975 during Emergency. It was only after the end of Emergency that he was elected as the president of JNU Students' Union in 1977.
We also reached out to Yechury who confirmed that the picture is not from 1975 but 1977, after the end of Emergency.
"This viral post is a blatant lie and falsification of what had happened back then. This picture was taken on September 5, 1977. This was after the Emergency was withdrawn. She [Indira Gandhi] had continued to remain the chancellor of the university so we marched to her house and read out our demands," Yechury said adding, "It is a lie that I was beaten up. And she did not force me to resign or force me to read out an apology."
CONCLUSION
It is clear that the then prime minister Indira Gandhi did not enter JNU with police to beat up CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury.
She did not force him to resign or read out an apology. The picture is from 1977 and not from 1975.
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