After a massive victory in Punjab, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann held a massive roadshow in Nikol area of Ahmedabad on April 2, 2022. During the two-day visit to Gujarat, the two also offered prayers at the Swaminarayan temple.
Now in the context of this visit of Kejriwal, a photo is going viral on social media. A screengrab of an alleged article published by The New York Times is doing the rounds on social media. The title of the article reads, “Aam Aadmi Party sets world record for maximum gathering of people in a political rally.”
Apart from this, the sub-title reads that ’25 crore people attended Arvind Kejriwal’s rally in Gujarat’. Sharing this screenshot, many people on social media are asking questions. Sharing the screenshot, a Facebook user wrote, “Gujarat’s population is about 6.5 crores, according to New York Times, 25 crore people came to Kejriwal’s rally yesterday.”
What is the truth of the viral claim
We have checked this claim and found that the post is fake. We also visited the official website of The New York Times but there is no such news there. The India page of The New York Times also does not mention any such news.
Also replying to the same screenshot, journalist Rana Ayyub said that the viral screengrab is fake. He wrote, “This photoshopped image is being circulated by right wing in India as @nytimesworld story. NYT or any other international publication shall never use the word ‘crore’.”
In the same Twitter thread, the official NYT account also denied the claim. The tweet read, “The screenshot of that tweet is a fake image. The New York Times did not write or publish that story. Our coverage can be found at http://nytimes.com/spotlight/india”