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| - Fact Check: Popular story about this historic pic of Gandhi is far from truth
A photo showing Mahatma Gandhi with a kid is being circulated on social media with claims that the child is Gandhi's grandson Kanu Gandhi at Dandi March in 1930. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the picture was clicked at Mumbai's Juhu beach in 1937 when Gandhi was convalescing after an illness and was living in RD Birla's bungalow at Juhu.
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India Today Fact Check
The picture was taken in 1937 at Mumbai's Juhu beach.
One of the most well-known pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, in which a child is seen waking ahead of him holding the other end of his stick, recently started circulating on social media.
This was in the backdrop of the death of an infant in Shaheen Bagh protests and the Supreme Court coming down heavily for using children in political agitations.
A Google search about the picture throws up multiple results saying this is a photo of Gandhi and his grandson Kanu Ramdas during the historic Dandi March of 1930.
But investigations by India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that multiple acclaimed global and national media organisations have been wrongly linking this photo to the Dandi March. This picture was clicked at Mumbai's Juhu beach in 1937, when Gandhi was convalescing after an illness and was living in RD Birla's bungalow at Juhu.
The misinformation along with the viral photo was carried by "Daily Mail", "Hindustan Times" and "Navbharat Times" when Kanu Gandhi passed away in 2016.
Recently, journalist Kamalika Ghosh tweeted the photo along with the caption: "What kind of a mother takes a child to a protest?" Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Kanu Ramdas Gandhi, the kid who walked ahead of Mahatma holding one end of his stick at Dandi Yatra protest during the historic Salt Satyagraha of March-April 1930.
The misleading information about this photo is also circulating on Facebook.
AFWA probe
We found five evidence that proves the viral photo is not from Dandi March but Juhu beach seven years later.
Evidence one
With the help of reverse image search, we found the photo on "Getty Images" with the caption, "Mahatma GANDHI having fun with one of his grandchildren on a Juhu beach, near Bombay (India)".
Evidence two
With the help of related keywords, AFWA found valuable data of the Archaeological Survey of India from the website of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Here, a book titled 'MAHATMA-LIFE OF MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI' used the viral photo, saying it was taken in December 1937 at Mumbai's Juhu beach.
Evidence three
On November 8, 2016, the official handle of Congress tweeted this historic photo with the caption - "Mahatma Gandhi with grandson Kanubhai Gandhi at Juhu beach in Bombay in 1937".
Mahatma Gandhi with grandson Kanubhai Gandhi at Juhu beach in Bombay in 1937 pic.twitter.com/OUY6ZNhUYk Congress (@INCIndia) November 8, 2016
Evidence four
The website of Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, a museum dedicated to Bapu's stay in Mumbai, also confirms that the photo was taken in 1937 at Juhu beach.
The website has recorded the chronological sketch of Gandhi when he visited Mumbai between 1915 and 1948. It clearly says that from December 7-13, 1937, he was in "Bombay" (Mumbai) and suffering from illness.
Evidence five
To further verify the authenticity of the photo, we reached out to A Annamalai, the director of National Gandhi Museum and Library in New Delhi. He too confirmed that the photo was taken at Juhu beach and the kid in the picture is Kanu Ramdas. Annamalai told AFWA that he had confirmed the details of the photo with Bapu's granddaughter Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni.
It should also be noted that Kanu Ramdas Gandhi was born in 1928 and Dandi March was taken out in 1930 when he was only two years old - something not reflected in the photo. The Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha was a civil disobedience movement led by Gandhi against high taxation on salt by the British in colonial India.
However, upon investigating further, we found that one of Bapu's grandnephews was also called Kanu Gandhi. As per the website of this Kanu Gandhi, he did take part in the civil disobedience movement in 1932, at the age of 15, and was also arrested for the same. But the child seen in this historic picture holding Mahatma's stick is not the grandnephew Kanu Gandhi but the grandson of Bapu.
AFWA concluded that the viral photo is not from Dandi March of 1930. This photo was clicked in 1937 at Mumbai's Juhu beach.
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