Fact Check: Viral Claim That Same Person Appears As DU Student And Railway Porter With Rahul Gandhi Is False
The claim that the same person appeared both as a porter and a DU student participating in Rahul Gandhi’s rallies is false. The DUSU Joint Secretary Lokesh Chaudhary and Kedar Lal seen in the viral post, are two different individuals.
- By: Pallavi Mishra
- Published: Jun 5, 2025 at 02:40 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News): A collage of two pictures is going viral on social media. In one photo, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seen sitting with some students, while in the other, he is seen sitting with a few railway porters. The claim accompanying these images is that the same individual is posing as a DU student and a railway porter alongside Gandhi.
Vishvas News investigated the viral post and found it to be baseless. The two images feature different people. The student seen with Gandhi is Lokesh Chaudhary, Joint Secretary of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU). The person in the second image is Kedar Lal, a railway porter at the New Delhi Railway Station.
What is the viral post?
Facebook user Pushpendra Kulshrestha group (Archive) shared this collage on May 27, 2025, with the caption “Our Pappu is also an antique piece… his disciples become coolies and students of DU….”
Investigation
To find out the truth behind these two pictures, we conducted separate searches for each image using Google Reverse Image Search.
First picture
We discovered that the first photo was shared by the Indian Youth Congress on X on May 27, 2025. It features Gandhi meeting the members of the Delhi University Students’ Union.
Additionally, we found a tweet by Choudhary on May 28, 2025. Choudhary, whose face is encircled in the image, called the viral collage fake in his tweet.
We contacted Choudhary on the phone to clarify the situation. He confirmed that the students seen in the picture are the same, but he has no connection to the porter seen in the other picture. He stated, “I don’t even know the porter seen in the viral picture. BJP and RSS are targeting me because I am working for backwards classes and Gandhi’s ‘social justice’ movement in the university.”
We also checked Choudhary’s social media accounts and found many other pictures of him.
Second picture
Using reverse image search, we found this picture uploaded on Gandhi’s official X handle on March 1, 2025. The accompanying text stated, “Often in the darkest times, the light of humanity shines the most. During the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station, the porter brothers set an example of humanity and saved the lives of many passengers. For this, I thanked them today on behalf of the countrymen. But it is important to learn from such accidents. These can be prevented by crowd control, use of modern technology, better infrastructure and strengthening emergency arrangements. Hope the government will take concrete steps in this direction so that passengers of every class can travel safely.”
On searching with relevant keywords, we found a news report on the website of the news agency ANI, dated March 1, 2025, which clearly shows the porter seen in the viral photo.
We also found a video on the YouTube channel of News 9 Live covering this visit of Gandhi, which included an interview with the porter he met. The porter, seen in the viral post, can be seen in the video identifying himself as Lal.
The differences in the facial features of Chaudhary and Lal are visible in the collage given below:
Lastly, we investigated the user Pushpendra Kulshrestha Group, who made the fake post viral and discovered that the user has over 2 lakh followers.
Conclusion: The claim that the same person appeared both as a porter and a DU student participating in Rahul Gandhi’s rallies is false. The DUSU Joint Secretary Lokesh Chaudhary and Kedar Lal seen in the viral post, are two different individuals.
- Claim Review : Same Person Appears As DU Student And Railway Porter With Rahul Gandhi
- Claimed By : Facebook user Pushpendra Kulshrestha
- Fact Check : False
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