Following the death of India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh on December 26, 2024, a picture of a man bowing to touch the feet of politician Sonia Gandhi surfaced in posts that falsely identified the man as Singh. His critics have frequently depicted Singh as subservient to Gandhi, the longest-serving leader of the opposition Congress party. But the circulating picture showed a Congress party worker and not Singh, according to the photographer who took it in November 2011.
“Those who protest in the name of Constitution, where were you when the country saw the leader of slaves Manmohan Singh licking the feet of a bar dancer from 2004 to 2013,” read a Hindi-language X post shared on December 29, 2024.
It included a photo of a man in saffron-coloured headgear bowing before former Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi in what appears to be an attempt to touch her feet.
The post surfaced days after the death of Manmohan Singh — India’s prime minister from 2004 to 2014 — who was hailed for overseeing an economic boom in Asia’s fourth-largest economy in his first term (archived link).
Critics, however, said it was Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the assassinated Rajiv Gandhi and the leader of Congress party during Singh’s tenure, who was the power behind the throne (archived link).
“Bar dancer” refers to accusations by Gandhi’s detractors that she worked as a bar dancer in Italy before she met Rajiv.
Further Hindi text overlaid on the picture — which bore the logo of the Getty Images agency — claimed it was taken when Gandhi was 71 and Singh was 85.
“This was our former prime minister. At least they should have respected his age,” it added.
Screenhsot of the false post taken on December 30, 2024
The picture was also shared with similar claims elsewhere on X and on Facebook.
Mistaken identity
A Google reverse image search found it was published by Getty Images on December 1, 2011 (archived link).
“A representative touches the feet of Sonia Gandhi as Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi looks on during the Indian Youth Congress’s national level convention of Elected Office Bearers in New Delhi on Tuesday,” its caption read.
Screenshot of the photo published on the Getty Images website
The caption to the picture added it was taken by photographer Shekhar Yadav on November 29, 2011.
AFP reached out to Yadav who said his picture had been shared with false claims. He said on December 30: “The person in the photograph was not Manmohan Singh but a youth Congress worker.”
At the time the picture was taken, Indian newspaper Hindustan Times reported a national conference for elected office bearers of the Indian Youth Congress was held on November 28 and 29, 2011 in Delhi (archived link).
Pictures from the conference — including one from Getty Images — show Singh was wearing his trademark blue turban, not a saffron one as seen in the picture shared in the false posts (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison the picture in one false post (left) and the one published by Getty Images which showed Singh (right):
Screenshot comparison of the image shared in false posts (left) and a photo from the 2011 conference on the Getty Images website (right)
A video from the event uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the Indian Youth Congress on November 30, 2011 also shows Singh wearing a blue turban (archived link).
