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| - Fact Check: No, this viral photograph has no link with Kanhaiya Kumar's poll campaign
India Today's Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be completely false.
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India Today Fact Check
The woman in the photograph is Kanhaiya's friend Saumya Mani Tripathi. The photograph was first shared in 2016 when she was a research scholar in JNU.
With elections right around the corner, there is an overdrive of political posts on social media. Some users are, however, giving political colours to the incidents not related to the Lok Sabha polls or even to politics.
Recently, a photograph of CPI's Begusarai candidate Kanhaiya Kumar went viral on social media where the former JNU students' union president is seen sitting with a woman in an amiable gesture.
The post claimed that the woman is Kanhaiya Kumar's professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and both are busy with the election campaign.
India Today's Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be completely false.
The woman in the photograph is Kanhaiya Kumar's friend Saumya Mani Tripathi. The photograph was first shared in 2016 when she was a research scholar in JNU.
On April 5, a Facebook page named "Pichiye Bangla" posted the photograph. The post, originally in Bengali, reads, "CPM candidate from Begusarai constituency Kanhaiya Kumar is busy in the election campaign with one of his JNU professors."
At the time this story was filed, the post was already shared by more than 100 users. The page is being followed by more than 5,000 users.
By using the reverse-image search, we found that the same photograph had also stirred controversy in 2016. An article in Deccan Chronicle, published in March 2016, claimed that the picture had Kanhaiya Kumar and his friend Tripathi.
Another article in Zee News had stated that in 2016, Tripathi was a research scholar in JNU. This article claimed, on March 5, 2016, that Tripathi herself shared the picture on her Facebook profile with the caption, "Home is where #Azadi is! Spring has arrived in JNU. Tum kuch bhi kar lo, hum leke rahenge #Azadi. Waiting for our two beautiful flowers Umar and Ban to join us soon. (sic)."
Even in an interview with digital media portal Newslaundry, Kanhaiya Kumar had clarified that the woman in the picture is his JNU friend.
We scanned news reports related to the Begusarai poll campaign and social media profiles of both Kanhaiya Kumar and Saumya Mani Tripathi, but could not find anything that would suggest that Tripathi is campaigning in Begusarai with Kanhaiya.
Also, the post says that Kanhaiya is the CPI(M) candidate from Begusarai. But in fact, he is contesting on a CPI ticket.
Therefore, India Today concludes that the claim of Kanhaiya Kumar's professor campaigning from him in Begusarai is false, and the picture was first shared in 2016.
(With inputs from Arpit Basu)
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