By Prantik Ali

An image is viral on social media which shows Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji, the Congress MP from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, holding his ears in the manner in which someone gestures while apologising for something. The photo is being shared with the claim that Shahu, who happens to be a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, asked for forgiveness from the minority community of Vishalgad for the anti-encroachment drives carried out in the area.

The newly elected MP visited Vishalgad on July 16, two days after a rally in favour of an anti-encroachment drive in the Vishalgad Fort area had taken a communal turn and resulted in a riot-like situation. A mob attacked Gajapur, a predominantly Muslim village three kilometres from the Vishalgad fort.

Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree), who has a long history of peddling misinformation and lies on social media, tweeted this picture with the claim mentioned above. “Descendants keep shaming legacies in Maharashtra.” he quipped, referring to the Congress MP. (Archive)

https://x.com/rishibagree/status/1813827745509790159?t=sa04WrD2yDWKNrmxnVirUQ&s=19

Right-wing influencer Raushan Sinha (@MrSinha_) also posted the viral picture showing Shahu Chhatrapati touching his ears. He captioned it saying that the Congress MP’s act was an ‘insult’ to the legacy of Shivaji Maharaj. At the time of this article being written, the tweet has been deleted. (Archive)

Another X-verified account, with the user name Smita Deshmukh (@smitadeshmukh), shared the viral claim, alleging that the Congress MP had ‘shamed’ Maharashtra as well as the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj by resorting to minority appeasement. (Archive)

Several other users on X made the same claim.

Fact Check

We ran a reverse image search on the picture which went viral. This led us to a tweet by verified user @Anand_Dasa88, who said that the women seen in the video were complaining to the Congress MP that someone had stolen their earrings, following which Shahu Chhatrapati reacted by touching his own ears.

Read Full Story https://www.altnews.in/cong-mp-shahu-chhatrapati-did-not-apologize-to-minorities-at-vishalgad-video-falsely-shared-by-rw-handles/