The New York Times on Wednesday said an image of a front page article featuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the headline “Last, Best Hope of Earth” was “completely fabricated”. The fake image is being widely shared on social media in India.

“Resharing or circulating photoshopped images online only adds to misinformation and uncertainty, at a time when truthful, trusted journalism is needed most,” the newspaper said in a tweet. The New York Times also shared a link of its factual reporting on Modi.

The morphed image features a large photograph of Modi, with the strap line of the article saying that the “world’s most loved and most powerful leader is here to bless us”. The edition in the image is dated September 26. But, September is spelled incorrectly and the font style of the headline is not the one used by The New York Times.

The fake image started circulating after Modi’s visit to the United States.

National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party Youth Wing, Rohit Chahal, was among those who retweeted the fabricated image, The Quint reported. Chahal, who has more than 76,000 followers on Twitter, has now deleted the post.