Photo Of Kerala Homestay Viral With False Anti-Reservation Narrative

A picture of a bungalow is going viral on social media with an anti-reservation claim. In the viral image, a multi-storeyed house can be seen. While sharing this image, people on social media claimed that the viral house is owned by a person from a lower caste and he used his caste-based reservation to get a quality education, job and wealth.

A Facebook user shared this photo and wrote a caption which reads, "This house belongs to one of my known who comes from a lower caste family. He got admission to NITs based on quota despite scoring less than me. He again used the same reservation to get job in one of the PSUs. He was not happy with his job, so he used the same reservation for IIM. He is still getting a reservation in India because his grandfather was poor 50 years ago. After completing his MBA from IIM, he recently posted on Linkedin- "Hard work pays off" Seriously? India is always going to be a developing poor country if it neglects merit and performance. Reservation is harming not only the general category people, but the entire country. The system was originally intended for 10 years. After 75 years of independence, more than 75% in this country are reserved now. Time to abolish this."

A Twitter user shared this post and wrote, "This house belongs to my friend who comes from a lower caste family. He got admission to NITs based on quota despite scoring less. He again used the same reservation 2 get job in PSU. He was not happy with his job, so he used the same reservation for IIM. He is still getting a reservation in India because his grandfather was poor 50 years ago. After completing his MBA from IIM, he recently posted on Linkedin- "Hard work pays off" Seriously? #India is always going to be a developing poor country if it neglects merit and performance.#Reservation is harming not only the general category people, but the entire country. The system was originally intended for 10 years. After 75 years of independence, more than 75% in this country are reserved now. Time to abolish this. #reservations."

After people started calling out her tweets, she mentioned the viral tweet is satire and the picture used in the tweet is for reference. Below you can see the tweet.

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Claim:

Viral image shows a picture of a house owned by a person from a backward caste who took advantage of the reservation to get a wealthy life, better education and a government job.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral image was previously a homestay in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, which was sold almost two years back.

During the initial investigation, we conducted a reverse image search and found the same image on Tineye. On the Goibibo website, it was described as the DJ home stay of Pathanamthitta.

On searching more, we found a Twitter user shared the same image while calling out Anuradha's tweet fake. He mentioned that this is a Homestay from Aranmula, Kerala and it belongs to Joy Mathew according to the Kerala Info website. He also posted a photo of the same house in which it was written "DJ Holidays Pathanamthitta Homestay".

Taking a hint from it, we searched this homestay on google and found the same picture on the websites of Kerala information, Trip.com, and Justdial. On the websites, it was described as the DJ home stay of Pathanamthitta.

On searching more, we found the Facebook page of D J Holidays Homestay, in which the same house can be seen. In the bio section, it was written, "Homestay and Home rental in Aranmula". However, the account is inactive after June 2018.

Fact-Checking website Boom went to the residence of Joy Mathew, who lives near the house seen in the picture. Mathew has refuted the viral claims and said that he neither studied at NIT nor IIM. He described himself as a Marthoma Christian, who falls in the general category. Mathew also mentioned that he is a NRI and he moved to America in 1994. Mathew further told that he ran the homestay business from 2014 to 2017 but in 2018 he sold the house to a person named Santosh. Santosh shifted to UAE after doing Graduation, and he too did not study at NIT or IIM.

It is evident from our investigation that the viral image was of a Homestay located in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. Neither the owner of this house is from the backward class, nor does he ta any reservation benefits for education or job. Also, the Twitter user who shared this story along with the image later clarified that this story is a satire, and the image was used for reference. Hence, the viral claim is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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