Man in viral post supporting BJP is not IAF pilot Abhinandan

NEW DELHI: An image of a man, who was claimed to be Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthanam, supporting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had recently gone viral on the social media.

It was later busted by the Indian media that the person in the picture was a a doppelganger of the Indian pilot, who was captured and later released by Pakistan.

The social media post claimed that that the IAF wing commander supports Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP and cast his vote for the party in the ongoing election of the country.

The post has a photograph of a person who has striking resemblance with Abhinandan, owing to the man’s handlebar moustache as the pilot.

The man is wrapping a saffron scarf around his neck, with the BJP symbol imprinted on it. The caption of the post urges people to vote for the India’s current ruling party.

Several Indian papers reported that the man in the picture was not Abhinandan but his lookalike and that any claim asserting that a serving officer of the IAF is actively campaigning for a political party is false. “Under the Air Force Rules, 1969, IAF personnel are not permitted to take part in political activities,” stated reports.

Abhinandan was captured when his fighter jet was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force on February 27. The IAF pilot was later released by Pakistan as a gesture of peace.