No, Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi didn’t get married according to Christian customs

A Delhi MLA questions Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s religion based on the fake image that has gone viral on social media.

The tweet with misleading caption shared by BJP MLA Delhi Manjinder Singh Sirsa

Akali Dal MLA from Delhi questions Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s religion based on a fake image that has been widely shared on social media.

New Delhi: An image of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his wife and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has gone viral on social media, claiming that the couple got married according to Christian customs.

Delhi’s Rajouri Garden MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted the image Monday with a misleading caption.

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#Throwback to Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi getting married

How come @RahulGandhi is Hindu if they got married this way?? pic.twitter.com/rqNMKiK1cn

— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) October 1, 2018

Apart from the false claims about the couple’s wedding, Sirsa, a Shiromani Akali Dal leader, also questioned Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over his religion.

Sirsa’s tweet was retweeted by over 1,900 users. However, the image that the MLA shared is not from the Rajiv-Sonia wedding.

Archival footage from 1968 shows that the Gandhis got married according to Hindu customs. In the footage by newsreel archive British Movietone, Sonia and Rajiv can also be seen with his mother and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Marriage ceremony of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi happening as per Hindu customs | screengrab from British Movietone’s video of their marriage

Online users, however, did bust the fake news shared by Sirsa. South Delhi Municipal Councillor Yasmin Kidwai, a Congress leader, pointed out that the image wasn’t from the said wedding. Congress leader Abhishek Dutt also shared images of the actual wedding to prove Sirsa wrong.

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Pls show some responsibility..u r an #MLA..this is not their wedding picture. And find some gainful employment instead of worrying about what or want not was #rajivgandhi's religion. #wasteoftime

— Yasmin Kidwai (@YasminKidwai) October 1, 2018

Earlier, a Facebook page called ‘Yogi Adityanath True Indian’, with over a million followers, shared the same fake image on 27 September. The post received over 1,300 reactions and was shared by over 1,700 Facebook users.

The actual event where the couple met the priest as shown in the viral picture couldn’t be verified.

In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer.