A 40 day mandatory fasting to all Sri Lankans in 2022?

Rajapaksa brothers who hold the top most positions of the country as the President and Prime Minister often become the subject of social media campaigns. This is our investigation regarding such an altered image targeting Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Social Media Claims

A Facebook user uploaded a photo, implying that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa were wearing Muslim skullcaps (Taqiyah caps) along with a statement which said in order to avert the food shortage the government was going to follow strict guidelines in 40 day mandatory fasting for all Sri Lankan nationals in 2022.

Facebook | Archived

We noticed this image and the accompanying claim first being shared in Twitter also as seen below.

Fact Check

First we searched local mainstream media to find any news item of this bizarre claim of 40 day mandatory fasting for all Sri Lankans, but couldn’t find any such reports. There was no such directive noticed from official government information channels also and President’s Media division also confirmed that there was no such decision taken and the posts were completely fabricated.

Then we did Reverse Image Search and were able to find the original photo used for the above claims in a Reuters news article as seen here. Archived.

Here is the original image on Alamy Stock Photos.

Alamy | Archived

The original photo was captured on the 25th of October 2019 by Dinuka Liyanawatte, a Reuters photographer. As per the photo caption, the photo was taken at the occasion when the presidential election manifesto of the SLPP presidential candidate was released at Colombo in 2019.

Below is an image comparison with the original photo and altered one.

However, there is an ongoing crisis in Sri Lankan economy and there is a risk for food shortage also, some medias reported it. Those articles can be read from here and here. Archived. Archived.

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Conclusion:

According to our investigation, we can confirm that a new doctrine of 40 day mandatory fasting for all Sri Lankans has not been implemented by the government for the year 2022 and the image used to create these satirical posts was a doctored image when presidential election manifesto of SLPP presidential candidate was released at Colombo in 2019.