A picture of a woman is being shared on social media with a claim that she is India’s first health minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. The post also claims that she was the first Asian to head the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s governing body.
“She’s Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, the Founder of AIIMS. She was India’s 1st Health Minister & 1st Asian to Head the Governing body of WHO. Most of the Indians don’t know her. She was a hero, who fought for Freedom & better life of Indians”, the text embedded in the post reads.
Here’s the link to the above post.
More similar posts can be seen here, here, here and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found the claim to be false and misleading.
We ran the picture through Reverse Image Search and found that the same post has been in circulation since at least October 2020.
Further investigation into the matter led us to a tweet dated June 18, 2021, by the writer and creator of The Ladies Compartment, Avantika Mehta. In the tweet, she has clarified that it is her picture and not of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.
Mehta mentioned that the picture was taken during a photoshoot done five years ago in 2016.
“FOR THE LAST TIME I DONT LOOK LIKE AMRIT KAUR, she didn’t look like me. This picture is from a photoshoot I did for a friends website five years ago, and whoever put it out there did not fact check,” the post read.
We found that the photoshoot was done in 2016 for a Republic Day story for a website called ‘Pyjama People’ (the website no longer exists). However, the pictures were also present on the Facebook page of Purab Paschim (a handmade jewellery store), that had provided the jewellery for the photoshoot.
The Facebook post, dated January 27, 2016, read, “A tribute to the heroines of the Indian Independence Movement / Story by Pyjama People
Born into the royal family that ruled Kapurthala (a princely state post independence,) Rajkumari Amrit Kaur’s journey as a staunch Gandhian and advocate for social welfare began shortly after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
The killings motivated her to take a more active part in the Nationalist movement in Punjab, but this princess traveled across India speaking on the cause. She was twice jailed — once along with Mahatma Gandhi during the Dandi March or the Salt Satyagraha on 12 March 1930. Seven years later, the British arrested her on sedition charges while in the Northwest Frontier Province of Bannu where she had gone to champion the Indian National Congress’s cause.
A Gandhian for life, Kaur renounced her material goods and lived in Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram. Clothing by 11.11 by CellDSGN and Pataaka, Jewellery by Purab Paschim.“
A video tribute of the same was also shared on the Facebook page of Pyjama People on January 26, 2016. The caption read, “So, today, as you’re watching the parade and enjoying your holiday, take a minute to pay homage to these amazing women who stood up against all odds and deserve to be remembered as heroines.”
We also found the same post on the Instagram account of Pyjama People dated January 26, 2016, where they had posted a collage of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Avantika Mehta, who was portraying Amrit Kaur.
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was independent India’s first health minister and also helped establish India’s premier hospital and medical college, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). She led the Indian delegation to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for four years and was president of the WHO assembly (World Health Assembly) in 1950.
Hence, from the above information, it is clear that the post is misleading as the viral picture is not of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.
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