Social media is flooded with a picture collage of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who recently suffered an injury on her forehead after she had an episode of fall within the premises of her home. The collage depicts two different images of Banerjee's head injury. In one image, Banerjee's wound, which is bleeding, is seen in the middle of her forehead, while in the second picture, the wound is on the left side of her forehead and a band-aid has been applied on it. Users have mocked the Bengal chief minister while sharing the collage suggesting that she faked her injury.
A verified user on X (formerly Twitter), @BhowmikShiv, shared the collage with the caption, "Spot the difference." The post received over 4 Lakh views and 10,000 likes.
Bengal BJP leader and former Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) amplified the image on X. (Archive)
Others who shared the image with captions mocking Mamata Banerjee included @FollowAkshay1, @CAChirag, @anilshukla_1986 and others.
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Fact Check
The first photo in the collage was released by Trinamool Congress's official X handle at 8.10 pm on March 14 after Mamata was injured. It shows her bleeding from a deep cut in the middle of the forehead.
Media outlets picked up the image and used it in their reports. (Examples: Hindustan Times, India Today, Business Today and India TV News)
We did a Google reverse image search of the other image in the collage which depicts a band-aid on the left side of Mamata's forehead. This led us to a Facebook video, titled, 'Press conference in front of Raj Bhavan' posted by Mamata Banerjee's official Facebook page on January 24. In the video, we can see that Banerjee has an injury on the left side of her forehead.
Press conference in front of Raj Bhavan | রাজভবনের বাইরে সাংবাদিকদের মুখোমুখি
https://www.facebook.com/MamataBanerjeeOfficial/videos/690160656619669
In the video, the Bengal chief minister talks about her injury which she received when a speeding car had come in the way of her convoy and her driver applied sudden brake. This led to her head banging against the dashboard. She also says she suffered a concussion.
We found multiple reports on the accident. An India Today report titled, "Mamata Banerjee injured in a car accident, says 'I wouldn't have survived if..." was published on January 24, 2024 featured an image where Banerjee has a wound on the left side of her forehead.
On January 24, ANI also posted the second image on X (formerly Twitter).
A comparison of the second image in the viral collage with the pictures used by India Today and ANI in their January 2024 reports shows that the former has been taken from the same day. It is not related to Mamata's recent forehead injury which occurred on March 14, 2024.
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To sum up, the two images of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the viral photo collage are from different occasions. The bleeding photo is from March 14, 2024 and the image where she has a band-aid on one side of her forehead is from January this year. The collage is being falsely used to mock the politician who is now convalescing at home.
Abira Das is an intern at Alt News.
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