Doctored image of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has twitter in splits

With ‘photoshopped’ or doctored images all over the internet, discerning twitter users wasted no time in calling out the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) on its own work of fiction.

The media bureau tweeted an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi peering out of a plane’s window as he undertook an aerial survey of Chennai, which has been devastated by record rainfall. The problem? It was fake.

The view from the plane’s window — of flooded streets in a residential district — had been superimposed onto the image.

Social media users compared it with a previous post by the Prime Minister (PM), which showed a distant view of the flooded city. Many questioned why such lengths had been taken to doctor the image, when it was a fact that Modi was in Chennai, and truly was surveying the devastation.

@prashanth2541 said: “Very silly of @PIB_India to photoshop [Modi] doing an aerial survey of Chennai damage. What’s the point of such tinkering?”

@tanvi_madan wrote: “It is good that @narendramodi visited. Just not clear why PIB felt the need to photoshop!”

The media bureau took down the image within an hour of posting, but has yet to explain the reason for the error.

The prime minister’s office was shocked to see facts being distorted, a senior official who declined to be named said, adding that officials from the press office have been summoned to reinforce rules and regulations.

“We will not allow anyone to falsify the facts,” another official in Modi’s office said on Friday. “The prime minister will not tolerate this.” The head of the PIB declined to comment.

However, twitter users treated the incident with humour and creativity. Many posted their own doctored versions of the image.

@Bobin_James tweeted a picture of Modi looking out of the window at a cat, and wrote: “It’s true. Cat pictures make everything better.”

Poking fun at Modi’s extensive foreign travel, @brownbrumby posted an image of the PM watching the Earth from outer space, and said: “Where no more countries are left to visit …”