Fact Check: Viral image claiming massive crowd at INDIA bloc rally is of Left Front brigade rally held in 2019
Loktantra Bachao rally of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties was held at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. The meeting was attended by top leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, etc.
rally
Loktantra Bachao rally of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties was held at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. The meeting was attended by top leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, etc.
After the rally, an image showing thousands of people gathered for a public meeting is in circulation with the claim that it shows the massive crowd that attended the INDI alliance rally. The claim in circulation on X (Twitter) goes as “BIG BREAKING Massive crowds today at the INDIA alliance rally at the Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi. Godi Media won't show you these visuals.”
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The viral image shows a public gathering during the general elections in the year 2019.
When we performed a Google reverse image search of the image, we found the same image submitted on the Alamy stock photo website. The title of the image is “Kolkata, India. 03rd Feb, 2019. Left activists from different parts of the state take part in the Left Front Brigade rally ahead of the general elections 2019. Credit: Saikat Paul/Pacific Press/Alamy Live News”
Here is the comparison of the viral image and the stock image published on alamy.com.
When searched with the keywords “Brigade Rally 2019”, we found a few news reports that shared the viral image. According to an article published in Peoples dispatch on February 4, 2019: The Brigade Parade Ground in the city of Kolkata in West Bengal, India, turned into a ‘red sea’ of humanity on February 3, 2019, as over a million people gathered for a Left Front-led rally. These people pledged to oust the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government from the Centre and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government from the State of West Bengal in the forthcoming elections.
The images of the Loktantra Bachao rally held in New Delhi can be seen in these reports.
Hence, the viral image does not show the crowd gathered during the Loktantra Bachao rally held in New Delhi in March 2024. The image shows the crowd gathered during the ‘Brigade rally’ that was held in Kolkata in the year 2019 before the general elections. The claim is False.