Wayanad Landslides: Old images of RSS volunteers shared to claim as recent; Fact Check

Posted by: Sridevi P August 2, 2024

Images of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers providing assistance at a relief camp is being shared as RSS volunteers at Wayanad after the recent landslides which left more than 200 killed.

The claim says, “RSS people silently helped people in this #WayanadDisaster But #Rahul_Gandhi is there only on Photo-Ops to show that he is helping people Infact, 100s of security people engaged for security of this so called entitled Youvraj.”

RSS people silently helped people in this #WayanadDisaster

But #Rahul_Gandhi is there only on Photo-Ops to show that he is helping people

Infact, 100s of security people engaged for security of this so called entitled Youvraj#WayanadLanslide #wayand #Casteist_Collegium pic.twitter.com/B9Zg1sDFDH

— BihariKhan (@JangliRaja) August 1, 2024

The same claim has been shared here and here.

FACT-CHECK

Digiteye India debunked similar claims in the past that the RSS volunteers were helping in disaster relief efforts. We took up these claims on social media and a simple glance shows that the workers were wearing khaki shorts, an old RSS uniform that has been changed now to full pants. See the difference in this image:

Secondly, the images were checked on Google Reverse Image Search for authenticity and we found that these images were from 2018 disaster in Kerala, when the RSS uniform for volunteers was ‘Khaki Shorts’ instead of the full pants.

Further, the image uploaded on August 11, 2019 also contained the same images as shown below.

RSS Swayamsevaks, Seva Bharati Volunteers in rescue works at PoothuMala, Meppadi in Wayanad, Kerala. #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/evpd8GYtEP

— Rajesh Padmar (@rajeshpadmar) August 11, 2019

Hence, these old images showing RSS volounteers wearing Khaki Shorts are from the 2018 Kerala disaster and not the recent ones as claimed.

Claim: Photos show RSS volunteers silently helping Wayanad landslide victims.
Conclusion: Misleading. Old 2018 images reused as RSS volunteers helping the victims in Wayanad.
Rating: Misleading —