DigitEye India Fact Checkers
Amid ongoing rehabilitation woes after sudden Kerala floods, many volunteers and army jawans are in the forefront to save the victims from agony but fake news and fake claims have overtaken them, thanks to social media messages. See the image widely circulated on Facebook below:
Posted by Srikumar Sridhar who has used this image with a caption on Facebook claiming that Kerala BJP has donated Rs.25 crore to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the relief of flood victims. The message on twitter with this photo has touched many hearts and gone viral.
Digiteye India checked the claim using Google Reverse Image search and the truth came out to be a stunning one. The original photo appeared in Twitter and Facebook on August 21, 2018 when HPCL company handed over a cheque for Rs.25 crore on behalf of all the petroleum companies in the state of Kerala as their contribution to the CM’s Distress Relief Fund. It has nothing to do with the Kerala BJP wing or Kerala BJP MPs, who were seen in the picture. See the original picture casption below:
Sh. @alphonstourism Hon. MoS Tourism (I/C), handed over contribution cheque of Rs. 25 crore from Oil Marketing Companies in Kerala for Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund to Sh. @vijayanpinarayi @CMOKerala#KeralaFloodRelief #KeralaWeAreWithYou@dpradhanbjp @PetroleumMin pic.twitter.com/lU0IhzCZB5
— Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (@HPCL) August 21, 2018
This is misrepresentation of the fact that the government-owned Public Sector Units have come together to collect the relief fund and donated it to the chief minister of Kerala and BJP local MPs had been present on the occasion, giving them an opportunity to join the photo session. It doesn’t mean that BJP is behind the donation nor made it to Kerala flood victims. In fact, Keral floods have become testimony to several fake news in circulation with numerous instances surfacing on social media platforms. Many times, officials had to clarify that most of them were fake message and appeal the people not to fall prey to such fake news.
Conclusion: This image was clearly misused with a misleading caption and claiming credit for donations not made by the BJP Kerala wing. Our rating for this news is ?????, which means the claim is Totally False.
