Photo doesn’t show Kuki militants ‘surrendering’ after meeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

By: Chandan Borgohain
July 11 2023

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Context

The Indian state of Manipur has been gripped by ethnic violence for the last two months. The conflict that started on May 3 during a protest rally against the demand for including the Meiteis community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list has claimed nearly 150 lives. As the law and order situation in the state remains chaotic, mis/disinformation over the issue continues to spread unabated on social media. 

A photo showing two blindfolded men guarded by the police is currently doing the rounds on social media with the claim that two Kuki militants laid down their arms after meeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had recently concluded his two-day visit to Manipur. One tweet read, “After meeting with @RahulGandhi Rahul Gandhi, Kuki militants surrendered. One of the militants says wants to give up violence and follow the path of Gandhi from now onwards.” However, the photo is unrelated to the current situation in Manipur and has been available online since July 2022.

In Fact

We performed a reverse image search on the photo and found a news report published by EastMojo on July 26, 2022. According to the report, the picture shows two cadres of the banned outfit Kuki National Army-India (KNA-I) who were arrested in an extortion case in the Churachandpur district of Manipur. 

“In yet another development, two cadres of the banned outfit Kuki National Army-India (KNA-I) involved in extorting money from non-local businessmen were arrested from Churachandpur district on Monday, said an official,” EastMojo reported. According to the report, a suo moto case was registered against the two accused, identified as Paolalmon Singson and Letthang Haokip. 

Another report published on the website of Northeast Live, a regional satellite news channel, used the same photo. The report from July 26, 2020, also stated that the image showed two KNA-I cadres arrested for threats and extortion. Northeast Live had also published a video news report on the development, carrying the viral photo. 

We also noticed that the claim about Kuki militants surrendering after meeting Rahul Gandhi was shared by the West Bengal Congress Sevadal (@SevadalWB) Twitter account, citing news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) as the source. While we found no such news on PTI’s website and social media pages, we came across an archived tweet with the same photo and claim posted from an account (@AWhiteTigerINC) impersonating the news agency. It is to be noted that the username of PTI’s official Twitter account is @PTI_News. Logically Facts reached out to PTI, who said, "The photo was posted by a fake/parody Twitter account."

The Verdict

The viral photo doesn’t show Kuki militants surrendering after Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Manipur. The image has been available on the internet since at least July 2022 and is unrelated to the current situation in the state. Therefore, we mark the claim false.

(Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect a response from the news agency PTI.)