Giriraj Singh said Rahul Gandhi's picture was photoshopped as the cane's shadow was missing
Highlights
- Giriraj Singh's deduction was based on the "missing shadow"
- This led to sparring on both sides of the political divide
- Some even gave the minister a lesson in "basic science"
A picture of Rahul Gandhi at Kailash-Mansarovar, standing with a fellow traveler, is photo-shopped, union minister Giriraj Singh said on Thursday. The minister's deduction was based on the "missing shadow".
The Congress president is in a jacket, cap and sunglasses as he beams into the camera with another pilgrim next to him, against a pristine setting and rich blue sky.
The BJP's Giriraj Singh noticed a flaw: "Ye to photoshop hai...chhadi ki parchai gayab hai ( This is photo-shopped. The cane's shadow is missing)."
This led to sparring on both sides of the political divide, with some giving the minister a lesson in "basic science" and others attacking Mr Gandhi.
Giriraj Singh followed up his tweet with a more detailed critique. "A fake photo of Rahul Gandhi was posted by the Congress party. Rahul Gandhi is an impersonator from a fake party called the Congress," he told news agency ANI.
This is not the first time the BJP has accused the Congress president of posting fake images. The ruling party's social-media official Priti Gandhi claimed that Mr Gandhi was tweeting photos off the Internet and passing them off as his own photos.
Today, the Congress responded to critics and skeptics by posting photos of Mr Gandhi against the Kailash mountains.
They also said he had "trekked for 13 hours non-stop yesterday, for about 34 km" and posted his fitbit data.
The Congress president went on his 12-day Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage to keep a pledge he had made after a mid-air flight scare during the Karnataka polls.
The trip started with a note of controversy, with images in circulation of Mr Gandhi at a cafe; in Nepal capital Kashmandu. The BJP's Amit Malviya targeted the Congress president claiming he had non-vegetarian food before starting his pilgrimage. He posted a comment by a waiter at the Vootoo restaurant, where Mr Gandhi had stopped.
The restaurant then put out a statement saying the Congress leader had only ordered pure veg food.
Giriraj Singh commented: "I am not at all concerned if he went to Mansarovar or not. I am not concerned whether he ate chicken before going to Mansarovar. BJP doesn't get involved in caste or religion politics."