Story:
Narendra Modi’s Childhood photograph with Mother Heeraben
Other Versions
(Hindi)
अपनी मां हीराबेन के साथ प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी
Fact Check:
A popular story online purports to show Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Childhood photograph with his Mother Heeraben. The black and white photograph shows a boy of toddler age sitting next to his mother in what appears like a photo studio. Interestingly, the same photograph is also shared online widely claiming it shows former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam with his mother Ashiamma Jainulabiddin. The fact of the matter is – it neither shows Narendra Modi nor Abdul Kalam.
Not Modi’s Childhood Photograph with Mother
The messages claiming to show Narendra Modi’s childhood photograph with his mother Heeraben are doing rounds on social media and image sharing websites since few years. The photograph went viral again after Modi became Prime Minister of India for the second consecutive term. However, we did not find any credible source to validate the claim. A comparison of Modi pictured as a boy and the toddler in the photograph does not appear to show many similarities. Moreover, the photograph is in fact a cropped one from what appears like a family shot captured in a studio. It shows another boy, girl and a man who’s probably their father.
As mentioned above, the same photograph also appears widely online claiming to show the missile man of India, APJ Abdul Kalam with his mother Ashiamma Jainulabiddin. On the occassion of Mother’s Day in May 2016, India Today website indiatoday.in shared the cropped photograph as Abdul Kalam and his mother. Despite the claim again, we did not find any credible source to validate the claim. The black and white family photograph appears online since at least 2013. It went viral after the demise of Abdul Kalam in July 2015.
Not Abdul Kalam’s Childhood Photograph with Mother
Coming to the validity of the claim, Abdul Kalam was the youngest of five siblings, the eldest of whom was a sister, Asim Zohra (d. 1997), followed by three elder brothers. His only brother alive, APJM Muthu Meera Maraikayar is at least 15 years elder than Abdul Kalam. That makes his sister, the eldest of the siblings, much older than Kalam. But the girl in the family photograph is not so old in age when compared to the little boy. This confirms the little boy in the photograph is not former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam with his mother. There’s another widely shared story claiming to show Abdul Kalam’s brother sitting in an Umbrella repair shop he runs. That again is not a fact.
To conclude, the photograph in question does not show Narendra Modi or Abdul Kalam with their mothers. The identity of the old black and white family photograph is not known.
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
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