False posts ahead of India vote target West Bengal chief with 'fake injury' claim
Ahead of India's general elections that begin April 19, critics of West Bengal state leader Mamata Banerjee shared a photo collage they falsely claimed depicted her faking an injury. But the pictures -- one showing her with a bloodied forehead while the other showing a different part of her face bandaged -- were from two separate incidents. A spokesman for Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party told AFP she was wounded when she slipped and fell at her home in March.
Warning: This story contains images of an injured woman
"What kind of drama is this? The injury is in the middle of forehead and the bandage has been applied on the side," said the Hindi-language caption to the collage shared on Facebook on March 16, 2024.
Banerjee, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been in power for over a decade in West Bengal state that is home to 90 million people.
Her Trinamool Congress (TMC) will battle Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for seats in the lower house of parliament in upcoming elections that start mid-April.
The photo collage was also shared alongside a similar false claim on Facebook here and here, and on social media platform X here.
Comments on the posts indicated social media users believed the claim.
"Election gimmick," one wrote. Another said: "Why does such drama happen just before elections?"
Separate incidents
Reverse image searches on Google found the pictures in the collage were taken from two separate incidents that happened in different months.
The picture that showed Banerjee with blood from a wound on her forehead was among the three photos published by her party on X here on March 14, 2024 (archived link).
The post said: "Our chairperson @MamataOfficial sustained a major injury. Please keep her in your prayers."
Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture in the false posts (left) and the one shared by TMC (right):
Similar pictures were published by local news websites here and here which reported Banerjee fell in a room at her house on March 14 and was rushed to a hospital (archived links here and here).
The image showing her with the bandage on her face, however, was from an incident that happened over a month prior. It corresponds to a photo published by news website Indian Express on January 25, 2024 (archived link).
The report said the West Bengal chief minister sustained a head injury at the time when her car made a sudden halt to avoid hitting another vehicle.
A video report uploaded on regional Bengali-language news outlet ABP Ananda's YouTube channel on January 24 showed Banerjee briefing the media about the incident (archived link).
The visuals from the 2:05 mark of the report showed her with the same bandage as in the picture in the collage.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the false posts (left) and the video uploaded on ABP Ananda's YouTube channel (right):
Responding to the posts, Trinamool Congress spokesman told AFP on March 28 the collage showed "two very different incidents".
"Mamata Banerjee hit her head on the windshield and sustained minor injury on January 24," Dutta said, referring to the picture of her with the bandage.
The more recent injury, caused by her slipping and falling at home in March, caused "a major gash on her forehead" and several other cuts. "There were four stitches that were applied to her. Later she was at home, under treatment," Dutta added.
AFP had previously debunked misinformation targeting Banerjee here and here.
