After the Aam Aadmi Party’s Bhagwant Mann took over as Chief Minister of Punjab, a set of photos were tweeted by Priti Gandhi, the former social media in-charge of BJP Mahila Morcha. She attacked the Aam Aadmi Party for allegedly replacing the portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh with the portraits of Bhagat Singh and Dr. BR Ambedkar.

Gandhi also added that this was an attack on the Sikh identity and whether it was Akali dal in power or Congress, no previous governments had dared to replace the portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from the CM office.

Kejriwal govt’s disrespectful attack on Sikh identity. Punjab govt removes photo of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from Punjab Chief Minister’s Office.

Do note, whether it was Akali dal or Congress, no one in the past dared to remove the portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from the CMO. pic.twitter.com/f3NWJzGdTs

— Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) March 17, 2022

The Punjab Lok Congress also tweeted the claim without the viral image.

Removing Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s picture from Chief Minister’s office is unacceptable. Maharaja Ranjit Singh is a great symbol of Punjabis’ pride, valour and courage. Nobody can take his place.

Appeal @BhagwantMann to restore it.

— Punjab Lok Congress (@plcpunjab) March 17, 2022

The claim is also viral on Facebook with infographics in Hindi.

Fact-check

The claim that the portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh has been removed from the Punjab CMO is patently false. A simple keyword search led us to a tweet by ANI, where a portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is clearly visible behind Mann, in his maiden cabinet meeting.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann addressed his maiden meeting after assuming charge as the Chief Minister of the state.

He urged the top brass of state civil & police administration to discharge their duties as public servants in the letter and spirit: CMO pic.twitter.com/2MrNQeNWJY

— ANI (@ANI) March 17, 2022

The conference room in the above picture is the same as the one where Parkash Singh Badal and Charanjit Singh Channi’s photos have been taken.

We performed a keyword search on Twitter and came across the photo of Captain Amarinder Singh with the portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh behind him. This photo was tweeted by Amarinder himself.

However, it appears that the portrait behind him and the wall does not match the portrait and the wall in the conference room.

After performing a keyword search on Google, we found a photo of Captain Amarinder Singh in the same conference room with the same portrait behind him.

To conclude, the portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is still in the conference room where it used to be.

The post No, the portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh has not been removed from the Punjab CMO appeared first on Alt News.

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