Rumour

A picture of PM Modi bowing down to a bust (a sculpture of a person's head, shoulders, and chest) is being shared on Whatsapp to claim that PM Modi was paying tribute to Nathuram Godse, the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi.

This was brought to our notice by one of our readers on Twitter. The tweet reads:

This photo is circulating on WA...they say that second image is of Godse's statue...I doubt it...Can you pls verify?

The two images shared by the user was posted by a Facebook user Priya Patil on 4th Oct 2018 with a caption "Bapu Kam Naam, Godse Ka Kaam".

We also found that many other Facebook users are sharing a post with a collage alleging that Modi pays tributes to both Mahatma Gandhi and his murderer Nathuram Godse.

A Twitter user Dipika Ray posted it on 9th May.

Our Investigation

We did a reverse image search and found that the claim is false. In the first picture of both the posts, PM Modi is paying his tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. The picture was tweeted by PM Modi himself on 30th September 2018.

In the second picture, he is not bowing down to the bust of Nathuram Godse. The picture was tweeted by All India Radio News on 6th April 2017 on the eve of BJP Sthapana Diwas (BJP Foundation Day). The caption of the tweet reads:

#BJPSthapanaDiwas: PM @narendramodi visits BJP HQ in New #Delhi; Pays tribute to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.

The picture was also published in a report by International Business Times covering BJP Stapana Diwas. The caption of the image reads:

In picture: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays tribute to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah, Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Suresh Prabhu, and other party members on Thursday, April 6, 2017. 

Fact

The claim that PM Modi paid tribute to Nathuram Godse is false. In the viral picture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was paying tribute to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay on the eve of BJP Sthapana Diwas on 6th April 2017. 

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay was the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.