Illustration showing the purported image and Himanta Biswa Sarma's tweet.
Credit: X/@himantabiswa
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared an image of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holding a red-cover booklet with black border, with the false claim that the latter is carrying a copy of the Chinese constitution. Sarma backs his allegations by stating that the Indian constitution has a blue cover, while the Chinese constitution has a red cover.
BOOM found that Gandhi is holding a coat pocket edition of the Indian constitution by Gopal Sankaranarayanan, which has a red cover with black border. In comparison, the Chinese constitution is entirely red, unlike the booklet Gandhi is seen holding.
"The original copy of the Constitution of India has a blue cover. The original Chinese constitution has a red cover. Does Rahul carry a Chinese Constitution? We will need to verify," Sarma wrote in an X post, which contained a collage of images showing the Indian constitution with a blue cover, the Chinese constitution with a red cover, and Gandhi holding a little book with a red cover with black border.
Credit: BOOM
Click here to view an archive of Sarma's tweet.
Fact-Check
BOOM looked through the replies to Sarma's X post, and found many users posting images of BJP leader being given a little red book with black border, similar to the one held by Gandhi in Sarma's tweet.
Credit: BOOM
We performed a keyword search with "rahul gandhi rally indian constitution", and came across multiple news reports showing Gandhi with the same little red book. We looked at two of these photos, taken by PTI, and published by the Business Standard and Hindustan Times, where the text on the book's cover could be seen clearly, and observed that it had "The Constitution of India" written on it.
Credit: BOOM
We then performed a keyword search with "constitution of India red cover", which led us to multiple links to online marketplaces selling the coat pocket edition of the Indian constitution by Gopal Sankaranarayanan. Click here to see the same being sold by Amazon.
We also found a copy of the Chinese constitution on Amazon, which appeared to be entirely red, unlike the book held by Gandhi.