Post-truth moments: Two photographs, two narratives

 

The above two photographs are used quite widely by the IT-cell workers in India especially during the election. The first one, tried to supplement the narrative of Mr Modi as a common person with a humble beginning. The Left side image is a superimposition of Mr. Modi's face on the original photograph which is given on the right side. This photo circulated so widely, that a RTI finally revealed that it was fake and that this photo doesn't represent Mr Modi as sweeping floor.

See: 

https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/01/21/modi-photoshopped_n_9035576.html

The second photo is an original image where Ms. Mamata Banerjee taken at a moment when she was ending her Namaskar gesture of folding hands. It is so strategically posted that it appears like the Islamic way of addressing with an Aadab. The image was circulated by people like the one above most probably through a fake account. If not fake, then it is by someone who follows and supports Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or may be someone who works for their IT-Cell. The prefix of chowkidar was part of the strategic social media campaign which translated Mr Modi's emphatic gesture that he is the watchman of country translated as Chowkidar. 

Disclaimer:

This is a supplementary material for an article to be published by Routledge under Knowledge, Power and Ignorance: The Indian Context an outcome of the IDSK seminar, see http://idsk.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Knowledge-Seminar_Notice.pdf for more details