A photo of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holding up a red book is being shared on social media, where users are claiming that it shows him holding a copy of the Chinese constitution.
Who shared it?
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared the photo, along with images of the Indian and Chinese constitution, asking, "Does Rahul carry a Chinese Constitution?"
At the time of writing this report, Sarma's post had gathered over 17 lakh views.
(Archives of more claims can be seen here, here, and here.)
Is it true?
No, Gandhi was carrying a coat pocket edition of the Indian Constitution, which is published by Eastern Book Company (EBC).
How did we find out the truth?
Using the keywords 'Constitution of India red cover', we checked whether there were any versions of the Constitution with a red cover. This led us to a page with the Constitution on the website of Eastern Book Company (EBC), which mentioned that it showed the 'Coat Pocket Edition' of the document.
The book seen here closely resembles the book in Gandhi's hand.
When we looked for more visuals of the book on social media, using the keywords 'Constitution coat pocket edition'. On X, we came across a photo of the directors of EBC gifting Union Home Minister Amit Shah a copy of the same edition of the Constitution.
We also came across a posts sharing a photo of former President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding the same edition of the Constitution. The photo was taken in 2017, shortly after Kovind became president, as per a report by The Statesman.
Conclusion: A photo of Rahul Gandhi holding a red book has gone viral with the false claim that it shows him holding China's Constitution.
This story was originally published by The Quint and republished by The News Minute as part of the Shakti Collective. You can read the original article here.