Fact Check: Old Picture of Dr. Harsh Vardhan Shared As Recent With Fake Claim

Vishvas News (New Delhi): Amidst the increasing cases of coronavirus in India, an old picture of Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan is going viral on social media stating that when people are dying due to lack of oxygen, our Health Minister is chopping ladyfinger.

Vishvas News investigated and found that the old picture of the Union Minister is going viral now with the fake claim.

Fake posts falsely attributed to Dr. Harsh Vardhan went viral earlier as well. Vishvas News fact checked such posts earlier as well. You can read it by clicking here and here.

Claim

On April 24, Facebook user Samrat Raju Maurya uploaded an old picture of the Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, writing: ‘People are dying due to lack of oxygen; our Health Minister is cutting ladyfinger.’

View the archived version of the Facebook post here.

Investigation

Vishvas News first started searching the picture going viral on Google. We found the same picture in a report on Livemint’s website. The picture was used in a report published on December 8, 2013. This report was related to the Delhi elections. The report can be read here.

We contacted the close aide of Dr. Harsh Vardhan. He also told us that some people are making this photo viral in order to tarnish the image of Dr. Harsh Vardhan. This picture was taken in 2013.

We scanned the profile of the user who shared the fake post. We found that the Facebook user Samrat Raju Maurya posts against political parties. We could not get more information from this account.