As India battles the deadly second wave of COVID-19 and clocks the highest number of daily cases ever recorded by any country in the world, a picture of ‘TIME’ magazine cover page describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘superspreader’ is doing rounds on social media.
The post is being shared in the context of assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu where political parties continued to hold rallies inspite the raging pandemic. Hundreds and thousands of party workers and supporters have been attending the rallies, public meetings and roadshows of leaders without adhering to COVID-19 protocols.
The text on the magazine cover read: Superspreader…Will humanity now have to pay for one man’s hunger for power?
A Facebook user shared the picture with the caption, “Modi on the front cover of TIMES magazine.”
The post links can be seen here, here, here and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found the claim to be false.
Firstly, we checked the TIME magazine website but did not find this cover in any of the latest editions.
We also searched and found that PM Modi has been on the TIME’s cover a few times in the past. The links can be seen here, here and here.
Once, we established that PM Modi was not featured in any 2021 TIME Magazine cover, we searched for the origin of the viral picture.
In the viral picture circulating on social media, we noticed the date July 17, 2006, on the top left corner.
We checked the website and found that none of the covers from July 2006 featured PM Modi.
Moreover, after running a Keyword search, we found links to multiple websites with fake TIME magazine cover templates. The links can be seen here and here.
Hence, from the above fact check, it is clear that the viral picture is FAKE.
If you want to fact-check any story, WhatsApp it now on +91 11 7127 9799
Error: Contact form not found.
Click here for Latest News updates and viral videos on our AI-powered smart news