Arvind Kejriwal Caught Not Wearing Mask Amid Covid? Old Image Resurfaces With False Claim

An image of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal without a mask is going viral on various social media platforms with a claim that the CM is giving a mask to a school student while he himself is not wearing one. In the viral picture, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and one more person along with Kejriwal can be seen tying a mask on a kid's face.

The picture has gone viral amid rising Covid cases in Delhi on various social media platforms with a caption, "यह केवल भारत में ही संभव है। तीन बुद्धिमान लोग बिना मास्क के एक बच्चे को समजा रहे है कि मास्क कैसे पहना जाता है।"

[English translation, "This is possible only in India. Three wise men without a mask are explaining to a child how to wear a mask."]

Gaurav Goel, who is State Spokesperson, BJP and an Advocate, retweeted the same tweet with the above caption :

तीन बुद्धिमान लोग बिना मास्क के एक बच्चे को समझा रहे हैं कि मास्क कैसे पहना जाता है !! 🤔🤔 @ArvindKejriwal @msisodia pic.twitter.com/jKNtA5x3Db

— दीपक शर्मा -सारथी (@sartheofdeepak) January 5, 2022

Following this, many users started sharing the image with a similar caption on Facebook & Twitter

Claim:

Amidst Covid, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is tying a mask on a kid's face while he himself is not wearing one.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact check team verified the claim and found it to be misleading.

The viral image of Arvind Kejriwal is from 2019 and is nowhere related to Covid-19. During an initial investigation, we found that The Logical Indian team had already debunked this fake claim in April 2021 and found that the viral claim is misleading.

We ran the image through reverse image search and found a report by Hindustan Times on November 2, 2019. According to the report, the Delhi government started distributing anti-pollution masks to students to protect them from air pollution in the capital. The government had also announced that it would distribute almost five million N95 masks to both government and private school students.

We also found The Print, India Today, Zee News & DNA reports on the same event.

We also found some pictures of the event shared in a tweet by Aam Aadmi Party on November 1 2019, with a caption that reads," Delhi has turned into a gas chamber due to smoke from crop burning in neighbouring states. It is very important that we protect ourselves from this toxic air. Through private and government schools, we have started distributing 50 Lakh masks today. I urge all Delhiites to use them whenever needed."

Conclusion:

With all these tweets, we can conclude that the image where Arvind Kejriwal is tying a mask on a kids face is an old one where the AAP Government distributed masks in Delhi Government and private schools.

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