Just days after India commemorated the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose as Parakram Divas, a massive row erupted with regards to unveiling of Netaji’s portrait at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
As President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled a portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose to pay homage to one of the bravest sons of India, many people including senior journalists, politicians and influencers pointed on the microblogging site, Twitter, that the portrait is not of Netaji but is of Actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who played the character of Netaji in a movie called ‘Gumnaami’.
Many such posts can also be found on Facebook(here & here)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found the claim to be false and misleading.
During our research, while going through several tweets regarding the same, we found a tweet by senior journalist Nistula Hebbar, who had put out an old picture of Netaji and actor Prosenjit Chatterjee.
Storm in a tea cup. 1. Portrait of Netaji by Paresh Maity based on his original photo. 2. Prosenjit as Netaji. 1. , 2. pic.twitter.com/cJTIGpZmeq
— Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) January 25, 2021
The photo of Netaji resembles the portrait unveiled by the President, made by National award winner painter, Paresh Maity.
To know more about the pictures, we ran the image of Netaji claimed to be the original one by Nistula through Reverse Image Search and found that the same photo has been present on the web for a long time.
The picture was tweeted by Netaji’s grandnephew, Chandra Kumar Bose on December 27, 2019.
Netaji said regarding the nature of patriotism& Indian nationalism – “All those who have accepted India as their motherland or all those who have made India their permanent home are my brothers.Temple of Lord Jagannath in Puri and the Taj Mahal are equally objects of my pride.” pic.twitter.com/48qRWsxYB7
— Chandra Kumar Bose (@Chandrakbose) December 27, 2019
We also find his another tweet from Jan 11, 2020, where he had used this same photograph.
Appreciate NDAGovt under the leadership of @narendramodi ji declassified #NetajiFiles, built #NetajiMuseum at #RedFort, renamed #RossIsland as #NetajiIsland. But what is imperative now is to follow #Netajis inclusive ideology to integrate the nation. Jai Hind! pic.twitter.com/3Regc3vu1B
— Chandra Kumar Bose (@Chandrakbose) January 11, 2020
While digging further, we found that Chandra Kumar Bose had put out clarification about the same.
In his latest tweets, he had said, “Portrait unveiled by the Hon’ble President of India-Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji @rashtrapatibhvn is based on #Netaji’s original photograph. Its an artists impression of #Netaji.”
Portrait unveiled by the Hon’ble President of India-Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji @rashtrapatibhvn is based on #Netaji‘s original photograph.Its an artists impression of #Netaji. https://t.co/chtZk1a9l2 pic.twitter.com/MkQGEtFq5d
— Chandra Kumar Bose (@Chandrakbose) January 25, 2021
In another tweet, of the same thread, he clarified that the photo in the claim is an original photo and based on the same, Paresh Maity made the portrait for the President.
This is the original photograph of #NetajiSubhasChandraBose, based on which renowned artist Shri #PareshMaity has drawn the portrait which was unveiled at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 23 Jan 2021, by Hon’ble President of India-Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji. @rashtrapatibhvn @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/WTOHqtgs3p
— Chandra Kumar Bose (@Chandrakbose) January 25, 2021
Apart from this, reacting to the ongoing controversy, Actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, (who played the character of Netaji) wrote on Twitter, “Would like to congratulate Paresh Maity for the wonderful piece of art in remembrance of our National hero Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. As an Actor,I’m elated that people thought,that the painting resembles my character in Gumnami, dir. by @srijitspeaketh and prosthetics by Somnath.”
Would like to congratulate Paresh Maity for the wonderful piece of art in remembrance of our National hero Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. As an Actor,I’m elated that people thought,that the painting resembles my character in Gumnami,dir. by @srijitspeaketh and prosthetics by Somnath pic.twitter.com/HBkXvwFFSw
— Prosenjit Chatterjee (@prosenjitbumba) January 25, 2021
With all of this in place, we can say that the claim made by people on social media that the President did not unveil an original portrait of Netaji was misleading and false.
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