Fact Check: Video showing PM receiving Rabindranath Tagore’s portrait upside down is misleading

A stir occurred at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign rally in Bhatpara on May 12, 2024, as BJP's Barrackpore candidate Arjun Singh's son and Bhatpara MLA Pawan Singh presented a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore to PM Modi, which was inadvertently upside down.

Several social media users, along with AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) official social media, shared it with a caption “The PM received an UPSIDE DOWN PORTRAIT of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore from Bhatpara BJP MLA Pawan Singh”

Fact Check: We found the claim is misleading, the video was trimmed and then shared on social media with a misleading claim.

While going through the post shared by AITC, in the comments section a user posted a longer version video capturing the incident in entirety.

On searching with the help of Google Reverse Image search, we found the video shared on Narendra Modi official YouTube channel on May 12, 2024 during the live stream of the event. At exactly 2:50 timestamp, the PM received the portrait of Rabindrnath Tagore upside down.

Then at 3:02 timestamp, BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar who was on the dais, observed and corrected it making the PM hold the portrait perfectly.

During the search, we also found several posts showing the PM posing for pictures with the portrait perfectly straight. 

Hence, we found the claim is misleading. When Tagore's portrait was initially handed over to PM Modi, it was indeed upside down; however, he promptly rectified it by flipping the portrait to proper orientation.