By Shinjinee Majumder

A collage of four photos has gone viral with the claim that they are photos of President Droupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath in their youth. The viral claims imply that all four personalities come from humble backgrounds and yet have achieved high levels of success.

Eknath Shinde’s alleged picture shows him in front of an embellished auto rickshaw. It is common knowledge that Shinde used to drive an autorickshaw to support his family before he joined politics. In Narendra Modi’s alleged image from his youth, he can be seen sweeping the floor. Droupadi Murmu’s alleged picture shows a young saree-clad woman wearing a headgear. And Yogi Adityanath’s image shows him meditating on a platform, clad in saffron clothing. The names of the dignitaries have been superimposed in Telugu at the bottom of each repspective image.

Telugu News outlet Hashtag U published an article on July 27, claiming the same.

The collage was shared on Twitter several times.

( Link https://twitter.com/SubhashGhai1/status/1552896760213020672?t=sgPODvtUkiggNY-ElyrAtQ&s=19)

The image that claims to be that of Eknath Shinde has also been separately shared.

Fact-check
Photo 1: Eknath Shinde standing in front of an autorickshaw

We came across several comments on Twitter that claimed that the man in the image is actually Baba Kamble, president of the Maharashtra Rickshaw Panchayat.

( Link https://twitter.com/Kiran2361976/status/1551516078571806721?t=gzmhB3IXSe-vy2cMvxh0ig&s=19)

Taking this as a clue, we did a keyword search on Google and found that several major media outlets have clarified that the man in the viral image is not Eknath Shinde, but Baba Kamble.

Below is a video report by Aaj Tak talking to Baba Kamble.

( Link https://youtu.be/-ks3Gl7D04w)

Alt News reached out to Mr Kamble who clarified that the man in the image is indeed him. Mr Kamble said, “The image was clicked in 1997. At the time, we had made the Raat-Rani rickshaw stand in Pimpri-Chinchwad for passengers who travelled at night. This image was clicked during the Shravan month. We usually do a puja (prayer) and decorate our rickshaws. I had also done the same when this picture was taken”.

Read the full story here:- https://www.altnews.in/no-theyre-not-young-eknath-shinde-narendra-modi-or-droupadi-murmu/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=newpost