Real story behind viral pic of Pune man being used in racist posts against Indians. Who is Rajendra Panchal?

A series of posts on X circulated by several US-based accounts had repurposed an old photograph of a Pune resident to push racist messages aimed at Indians, combining anti-immigrant rhetoric with mockery of disability. The image showed Rajendra Panchal, now 40, before he underwent life-changing corrective surgery for a rare jaw disorder.

Panchal, a helper from Pune, had lived with severe restriction of jaw movement for nearly four decades. When he was a year old, he suffered a fall that fractured his jaw. The injury eventually resulted in temporomandibular joint ankylosis — an uncommon condition in which the joint becomes fused to the skull. Because his family could not afford treatment, he spent most of his life unable to open his mouth fully. He survived almost entirely on liquids and thin semi-solids, remained chronically undernourished, and struggled with speech throughout this period.

Corrective surgery was carried out only in 2017. The procedure, performed free of cost by maxillofacial surgeon Dr Sameer Garde at Oasis Clinic in Pune, enabled Panchal to eat solid food for the first time in decades. A similar account of his treatment was shared by doctors from MA Rangoonwala College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, who had also been involved in his case.

Despite this long personal history, several American accounts on X had recently used his pre-surgery photograph to promote anti-Indian commentary. The posts appeared over the past few days and described Indians with slurs, often tying their comments to longstanding narratives around immigration and the H-1B visa. Some posts also attempted to link the image with maps of American technology hubs, suggesting that Indians working in these industries were “replacing” Americans.

One widely shared post, which accumulated more than 11 million views, placed Panchal’s picture next to a map of US tech centres. Another post from a verified account claimed, “This is the face of the H-1B horde replacing real Americans.”