Edited image of Rajasthan BJP MLA shared as 'Hindu saint married to Muslim cleric'

What’s the claim?

An image circulating on social media depicts a woman in saffron attire and a garland standing next to a man in a white kurta and skullcap. It claims that the woman is "Sadhvi (Hindu saint) Rashmika Saraswati," who married an older Muslim cleric. The image includes the text, translated from Hindi: “Sadhvi Rashmika Saraswati married an old Maulana (Muslim cleric).”

A user on X (formerly Twitter) shared this image with a caption in Hindi: "Blind devotees got a new brother-in-law once more. Will you not send your congratulations, devotees? What sort of Sadhvi… Nobody becomes a Sadhvi just by donning saffron clothes and putting a religious mark on the forehead. This is adultery, a stigma on society (translated).” The post had over 10,000 views at the time of writing. Archives of similar posts sharing this narrative can be accessed here and here.

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the image is edited. The face of BJP MLA from Jaipur, Balmukund Acharya, has been altered to resemble a woman.

Here’s what we found

Through a reverse image search, Logically Facts discovered that the original image featured a man, not a woman, standing next to the man in the skullcap. The man in the original image is Balmukund Acharya, a BJP leader, and MLA from Jaipur's Hawa Mahal Constituency. Acharya shared this image on his official Facebook account (archived here) on December 6, 2023, and clarified that it had been shared with a false claim.

The image shared by Acharya had the following text overlaid: “Some fools are sharing this image in different groups since this morning with the claim that Maharaj went to so-and-so hotel and apologized for yesterday's action. There is nothing like that, it is a rumor. This photo is from the election office where people came to meet and welcome me (translated).”

Comparison showing the original image and the edited image.(Source: X/Facebook)

What does the image show?

The image was shared with a false claim that Acharya met the owner of a Muslim-owned hotel in Jaipur after his drive to shut down non-vegetarian shops in his constituency. According to a video report by Times Now Navbharat (archived here), after winning the Assembly elections from the Hawa Mahal constituency in Jaipur, the newly elected MLA Acharya, and his supporters, visited the outlets called 'MM Khan' and ‘Afghani Darbar’ in the Aparakashi area and asked for licenses from the owners.

Following the controversy, a photo of him (which has now been edited) went viral, claiming that the MLA went to apologize to the owner of MM Khan Hotel and took a selfie with him. However, Acharya refuted this claim in two Facebook posts (archived here and here), where he shared the same photo and clarified that the individual in the image with him was Usman Chauhan, who had come to congratulate him on his victory in the Assembly elections.

Images shared by Acharya with the same man in the skullcap were found on his Instagram account (archived here) on December 5, 2023. The caption read, “All Muslim committees and various institutions of the Muslim community from the Hawa Mahal assembly constituency were welcomed and congratulated for victory.”

This confirms that the original photograph has been edited to replace Acharya’s face with a woman's, falsely depicting a ‘Sadhvi.’

The verdict

The face of the person purported to be “Sadhvi Rashmika Saraswati” in the viral image has been altered. The original image features Balmukund Acharya, a BJP MLA from Jaipur. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.