Some social media users have shared a picture of important leaders from the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, including B R Ambedkar and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, sharing a meal together. Users have shared this image with a caption that says ”The first Iftar party in independent India was given by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947, in which his cabinet is visible.”
Twitter handle हम लोग We The People shared this image with a similar claim in Hindi. The tweet has got over 7,000 views at the moment.
स्वतंत्र भारत मे पहली इफ्तार पार्टी 1947 में जवाहर लाल नेहरू ने दी थी जिसमें उनका मंत्रीमंडल नजर आ रहा है
लेकिन सरदार पटेल ने इसका विरोध किया था कियह गलत परंपरा शुरू करना देश के लिए खतरनाक है जबकि कुछ ही महीने पहले हमने होली, दिवाली पर किसी पार्टी का आयोजन नही किया था। pic.twitter.com/7Y6cuno6jm
— हम लोग We The People (@ajaychauhan41) March 31, 2023
Another Twitter handle, by the name Indian Muslim History, shared the same image with the same claim. The tweet has got 3,000 liked and 500 retweets.
A small iftar party thrown by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad for some of his acquaintances.
Pic courtesy Pervez Muzaffar pic.twitter.com/HFyWxIfv85
— India Muslim History (@syedurahman) May 3, 2021
The image was also shared on Twitter and Facebook multiple times, screenshots of which can be seen below.
Fact Check
By reverse-searching the image on Google, Alt News came across the same image on stock photo website Alamy. The image is posted with a caption in Marathi that translated to “Marathi: Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and other ministers attending a dinner invitation given by Vallabhbhai Patel to the Cabinet in celebration of Chakraborty Rajagopalchari becoming India’s first Governor General. June 1948”
Furthermore, we also came across a document file that contained some rare photographs clicked by Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photojournalist. This contained a top shot of the same occasion. The caption of the photograph reads, ”Nehru’s Cabinet seen at lunch hosted by Sardar Patel after C. Rajagopalachari became Governer-General, 1948. Seated here are: Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Baldeve Singh, Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Raj Kumari
Amrit Kaur, John Matthai, Jagjivan Ram, Mr Gadgil, Mr Neogi, Dr Ambedkar, Shyama
Prasad Mookherji, Gopalaswamy Iyengar and Jayaramdas Daulatram.”
Therefore, the image making rounds on social media claiming to be of an Iftar dinner hosted by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is actually an image from 1948 and of a lunch hosted by Sardar Patel after C. Rajagopalachari became the Governor General of India. This lunch was attended by members of the Cabinet under Jawaharlal Nehru.
Vansh Shah is an intern at Alt News.
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