Fact Check: Shiv Sena leader shares photo from Pakistan while taking jibe at India’s education system – India Today

On August 3, Manisha Kayande, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council and Shiv Sena spokesperson shared a collage of two photos, taking a jibe at India’s education standards. The first photo was of a swanky showroom for shoes and the second one showed books being sold on the street. “This says a lot about how we are heading as a society,” a line of text in the post read.

Sharing the post, the Sena spokesperson wrote in Hindi, “If India is educated, only then will it improve.” Besides Kayande, several other Twitter users also shared the photos with similar captions.

AFWA’s investigation found that the photo of books being sold on a footpath is not from India but from Lahore, Pakistan.

The viral posts have been archived here and here.

AFWA probe

We snipped out the image showing books on the footpath from the post and ran a reverse image search on it. The results led us to a website called “Locally Lahore“. Here, we found an article on Lahore’s Anarkali Bazaar published in 2017.

The article’s headline read, “Gem in The Dirt – Sunday Open Book Bazaar at Anarkali Lahore”. This article spoke in detail about the weekly open book bazaar in the city. The viral photo, along with others, was published with the report.

We have found a similar article report that carried the same photo published on the website “Youline magazine” in 2019. In both reports, the photo was credited to Humna Jabbar.

We found Jabbar’s Facebook and Instagram. From these, we ascertained she is a resident of Lahore. AFWA reached out to Jabbar through her website and enquired about the viral image. Our story will be updated as and when she responds.

However, it is clear that in an attempt to take a jibe at India’s education standards, a Sena spokesperson shared a photo from Pakistan.

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