Fact-Check: It's Not Jesus Christ Photo, But Roerich’s ‘Madonna Oriflamma' In Rahul Gandhi's Viral Selfie With Sonia Gandhi

Fact Check: Selfie of Rahul Gandhi & Sonia Gandhi showing inked fingers was shared with false claim that the photo behind them is of Jesus Christ. It actually shows a 1932 painting by Nicholas Roerich

Screenshot from X posts shared with a false claim.

Fact Check: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared a selfie of him with Sonia Gandhi, showing their inked fingers after casting their vote in the sixth phase of polling during the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The photo has since been widely shared on social media with a false claim.

The claim: Those sharing the photograph took a dig at Gandhi calling himself a 'janeudhari brahmin', (thread-wearing Brahmin), while claiming that he had a photo of Jesus Christ in his room, but none of Hindu Gods.

Among those sharing this is X (formerly Twitter) user 'MrSinha_', who has spread misinformation in the past.

 

(Source: X/Screenshot)

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here and here.)

But...?: The photo does not show Jesus.

It is a painting titled 'Madonna Oriflamma' by Russian painter Nicholas Roerich, where the lady in the painting is holding a banner of peace.

How did we find out the truth?: We noticed that the photo in the background showed a person holding a banner with three red dots, surrounded by a red circle.

 

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

The painting showed a lady holding a banner. 

Using this description ('person holding red circle with three dots painting') as a search term led us to a 2017 blog post with the same image.

It identified the image as a 1932 painting titled 'Madonna Oriflamma' by one Nikolái Roerich.

 

(Source: Blogspot/Screenshot)

The image shows a  painting called 'Madonna Oriflamma'. 

It also mentioned that the geometrical art was Roerich's creation, which he called the 'Banner of peace', elaborating on the symbolism of the banner.

 

(Source: Blogspot/Screenshot)

The lady in the painting holds the 'Banner of peace'.

We looked up the name of the painting, and found it on several websites across the internet.

One of the results included the painting's WikiArt page, last updated in 2013, which mentioned that the art was on display at the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York.

This story was originally published by TheQuint as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline, excerpt, and the opening introduction para, this story has not been edited by ABPLIVE staff.