India opposition party leader Rahul Gandhi targeted with baseless 'secret family photo'
Indian opposition party leader Rahul Gandhi's marital status has attracted frequent media speculation but a photo shared repeatedly online does not show him with his family, as social media posts baselessly claimed. The picture previously circulated in news reports about Gandhi taking a helicopter ride with the children of fellow politician Priyanka Nandwana, who told AFP the photo was shared with a false claim.
"Raul Vinci on tour with his wife Jonita Vinci, son Nohak Vinci and daughter Minak Vinci," read a Hindi-language Facebook post that shared the photo on August 23, 2024.
"Raul Vinci" is a pseudonym that the Congress party leader reportedly used for security reasons while studying at Cambridge University (archived link).
"This is the same Rahul Vinci who calls Hindus violent animals, and the foolish people of India want to make him prime minister," the post added.
"Violent Hindus" appears to refer to Gandhi's taunt that "those who claim to be Hindu only talk about violence, hatred and untruth" -- a remark apparently aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but which Modi said was referring to the "entire Hindu community" (archived link).
Gandhi is the scion of the dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades and is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.
The post featured a picture of Gandhi posing in front of a helicopter with three young children and an older girl.
Gandhi, who is listed as unmarried in his election affidavit, has been frequently asked about his marital status (archived here and here).
Similar posts on Facebook and social media site X shared the picture alongside a similar claim.
Helicopter ride
A reverse image search on Google found the picture published by Hindi news outlet Rajasthan Tak on December 9, 2022 (archived link).
The headline reads in part: "Rajasthan News: Rahul Gandhi gave a big gift to this girl on her birthday."
According to the report, Gandhi promised to give a helicopter ride to the girls he met during the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" (Unite India March) he began in September 2022.
Gandhi's five-month trek across the country – which harkened back to the famous 1930 trek by his unrelated namesake Mahatma Gandhi – struck a chord with affectionate interactions with thousands of bystanders that lined streets to watch his procession.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture in the false posts (left) and the one published by Rajasthan Tak (right):
The picture was credited to Rajasthan Tak reporter Bhavani Singh, who told AFP: "These children belong to the family of a local Congress leader, Priyanka Nandwana."
The helicopter ride was reported by various local news sites, including First Khaber and Kanak News who published other images from the event (archived links here and here).
The reports identified the older girl in the photo as the daughter of Priyanka Nandwana, a local Congress party leader in Rajasthan state.
AFP also reached out to Nandwana, who confirmed the older girl and the boy wearing a yellow shirt were her children, while the other two were children of her relatives.
"They are not Rahul Gandhi's [children]. This is being shared with a false claim," she said.
"Rahul Gandhi had promised my daughter that he would take her on a helicopter ride and within 10 days he arranged it. The children were very happy to meet Rahul Gandhi and clicked this photo as a memory at that time."
