New Delhi, Aug 10 (Pratyush Ranjan, PTI Fact Check): An image of a banner with the Hindi text 'Nitish Sabke Hain' (Nitish is for all) is going viral with a claim that it was put outside the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) office in Patna on the day Nitish Kumar decided to end his party's alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar. The PTI Fact Check Desk found in its investigation that it was a two-year-old banner and was put outside the JD-U office in Patna before the 2020 Bihar assembly elections.
Claim
August 9, 2022, was an eventful day in Bihar's politics as Nitish Kumar ended his party's alliance with the NDA and announced that JD-U would form a new government with the support of the RJD, the Congress, and other political parties in the Mahagathbandhan (Grand alliance).
On the day Nitish quit as CM, many social media posts went viral with the image of a banner and text 'Nitish sabke hain' claiming it was put outside his party office in Patna as soon as he decided to end the alliance with the NDA.
A news agency posted a tweet with the banner's image on August 9. The text in the tweet reads, "Nitish Sabke Hai" poster appears at the JD(U) HQs in Patna as Nitish Kumar allies with RJD after leaving NDA."
The archive link of the tweet can be seen here. However, the news agency tweeted a correction later in the day and deleted the tweet.
Several media outlets also published stories using the same banner's image, and the claim appeared in the tweet by the news agency.
Two such stories can be seen here and here.
Hindi news channel 'ABP News' also published one video on its YouTube channel with the same claim and tweeted the video from its official Twitter handle.
The YouTube video and the tweet can be seen here and here.
Many users on different social media platforms also started sharing the same banner, claiming it was put on the day when Nitish decided to quit NDA. One of the posts can be seen here.
Investigation
The fact check desk did a Google Reverse Image Search on the viral image, putting the keyword 'Nitish sabke hain' in the search bar to find the source of the viral image.
Reverse Google Image Search helps users to find the source of old photographs and forwarded Internet memes.
During the investigation, the desk found a news article with the same banner published on October 2, 2020. Here is the link.
A Facebook post, published on October 6, 2020, also used the same image. The link can be seen here.
Another article published by the TV9 website on October 7, 2020, was found with the same image. Here is the link.
In the next part of the investigation, the desk did a Google search with the keyword 'Bihar Politics' and found a video clip by the news channel ABP Bihar published on October 2, 2020.
In the video, the reporter detailed how the banner was placed outside Patna's JD-U office. The video can be watched here.
The desk also found a tweet with the same image posted by a journalist on October 6, 2020. The tweet can be seen here.
Some social media users also posted the same picture in October 2020. One of the links can be seen here.
The banner was not new and used before the 2020 Bihar assembly elections.
The desk wrote to Nachiketa Narayan in PTI's Patna bureau to investigate this claim. Nachiketa further contacted the JD(U) functionaries entrusted with the upkeep of the party office at Birchand Patel Marg in Patna. They confirmed that such a banner was put up before the state assembly elections in 2020. They asserted that this was never put up in the recent past.
Claim
Nitish Kumar's banner with the text - 'Nitish Sabke Hain' (Nitish is for all) - was put outside the JD-U office in Patna on the day Nitish Kumar decided to end his party alliance with the NDA.
Fact
The viral claim is misleading, and the banner showing the text 'Nitish Sabke hain' was used outside the JD-U office ahead of the Bihar polls in 2020.
Conclusion
The 'Nitish Sabke hain' banner was put outside the JD-U office ahead of the 2020 assembly elections. The claim in the social media posts that it was put on the day Nitish quit as CM is misleading.
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