Mallikarjun Kharge ‘kept away’ from Rahul Gandhi-Anwar Ibrahim’s breakfast table? Morphed photo viral

A viral photograph purportedly showing Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sitting in a corner, isolated from a breakfast meeting between Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has been confirmed as a digital fabrication. The image, which circulated widely across social media platforms, was used to suggest internal discord within the Congress party leadership.

Independent verification confirms that the original photograph of the meeting, held during the Malaysian Prime Minister's visit to India, does not feature Mallikarjun Kharge. Analysis of the official visuals and media coverage from the event shows that the space where Kharge was allegedly seated was empty in the authentic version of the image. The viral version had been digitally altered to insert the Congress president into the frame.

This incident highlights the ongoing challenge of misinformation targeting political figures in India. The Congress party has previously faced numerous attempts to manufacture narratives of internal friction through the use of edited media. Experts warn that such manipulated images are designed to exploit existing political biases and undermine the credibility of public figures by creating false visual evidence of social or professional exclusion.