The Viral Lie And The Forgotten History: The Truth Behind The ‘Bar Dancer’ Photo

A black-and-white photograph showing three young women dancing in a bar is being widely circulated on social media in an attempt to defame Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. Several right-wing pages are driving this campaign. However, when we examined the claim, our investigation led us to the history of a successful labour strike in Australia in 1967.

The Viral Image

During election seasons, old photographs are often revived and shared with misleading claims. One such black-and-white image is currently going viral on social media. It shows three foreign women dancing in a bar, with the claim that the woman standing in the middle is Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. The image has been widely circulated on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, largely by right-wing accounts.

In Malayalam, the post has been circulating since February through a Facebook account named Ramesh Babu Nair. It was shared with the caption: “Do you recognise who is dancing in the middle? Here’s a clue: she is not an original Indian.” Several commenters asserted that the woman was Sonia Gandhi, while others posted mocking remarks targeting her and Rahul Gandhi beneath the post.

From that single Facebook account alone, the post received over 741 likes, 259 comments, and 316 shares as of February 17. A right-wing Facebook page called “Sathyameva Jayathe” (with 6.7K followers) also shared the post. The image was also found circulating on a Tamil X (Twitter) account with over 6,000 followers since February 15, garnering 5,920 views.

What did we find?

To verify the claim, we traced the image back to its original source. The version circulating online clearly carries the watermark: Getty Images – Credit: Fairfax Media.

A detailed search on Getty Images led us to the original photograph, titled:
“Go-Go dancing girls help break the beer drought at Rawson Hotel in Auburn on 21 November 1967.”

The image was clicked at the Rawson Hotel in Auburn, Sydney, Australia, by photographer Vic Sumner. Even a basic visual comparison shows that the woman standing in the middle bears no facial resemblance to Sonia Gandhi. The attire and setting further confirm that the photograph was taken in a foreign pub, not in India.

To strengthen the verification, we used facial comparison tools — Facepair.com and FaceComparison.ToolPie.com — to compare the woman in the image with an authentic photograph of Sonia Gandhi from the 1960s:

• Facepair.com indicated only a 43% similarity (a score above 50% is generally required to suggest the possibility of the same individual).

• FaceComparison.ToolPie.com showed a similarity of just 28% after analysing facial structure, eyes, and nose.

Both results clearly indicate that the woman in the viral image is not Sonia Gandhi.

The Real Story: A Labor Victory

The true origin of this image is a historic event in Australia. In November 1967, over 2,000 brewery workers in Sydney went on strike. This event is known in Australian history as the ‘Draught Beer Drought.’

After 14 days of negotiations, the workers reached an agreement on November 17 and decided to return to work. The photograph captures the celebrations held at the Rawson Hotel in Auburn, Sydney to mark the end of the strike. It was photographed by Vic Sumner and is currently archived in the Fairfax Archives.

This historically documented photograph is being deliberately misused for political purposes.

A Recurring Pattern of Disinformation

This is not the first time such false claims have surfaced. Last year, a black-and-white photograph of a young woman in a bikini was circulated with the caption, “Can you name this bar dancer from Italy?” Many commenters alleged that the woman in the image was Sonia Gandhi. In reality, the photograph was of actress and model Ursula Andress.

There is no evidence to suggest that Sonia Gandhi was ever a bar dancer. While some accounts confirm that she worked as a waitress at a local bar during her student years in Cambridge in the 1960s, there is no credible evidence that she ever worked as a dancer.

(This is an AI-assisted translation of an article originally written in Malayalam, produced under editorial supervision.)