Fact Check: Video showing Modi’s effigy garlanded with footwear during his US visit is not recent
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the United States of America from June 21 to June 24, 2023. He participated in various programmes and addressed the Indian diaspora.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the United States of America from June 21 to June 24, 2023. He participated in various programmes and addressed the Indian diaspora. He was hosted by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The news coverage of the Indian diaspora welcoming him has been extensive.
Meanwhile, a video of his effigy being garlanded with shoes and slippers is in circulation with the claim that it shows protests in the US during Modi’s visit. The video is shared with the caption with a sarcastic remark “Are you still think that an Indian PM #Modi got a grand reception in the US..? #Bakths need to open their #ModiInAmerica #
Fact Check:
The claim is misleading. The video is from 2019 when anti-Modi protests were organised in New York.
When we performed a reverse image search on the key frames extracted from the video in Yandex, we found a few social media posts published in 2019.
A Twitter user shared the image from the viral video in 2021 with a caption “In America”
Another Twitter user shared the screenshots of Modi effigy with shoe garland in October 2019, with a caption:
“विदॆशी धरती पर भी बहुत नाम कमा रहा है ....डंका बज रहा है भक्
When translated, it states: “He is earning a lot of fame in foreign land also....the drums are banging.. devotees have started chanting 500 rupees per day, Har Har Modi Ghar Ghar Modi #Bankfraud #
The viral video was shared by a Facebook user in November 2019 with a caption in Bengali “বিদেশের মাঠিতে ভারতের প্রধা
When translated, it states: “In the foreign land, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy was garlanded with shoes as a mark of protest. Inshallah Babri Masjid will remain, but Modi will not.”
In order to find out the location of the protests, we searched for 47th Street, which can be seen in the video. A placard can be seen in the video with the words “Stop killing… Kashmir, Kashmir Mission USA”.
When searching for Kashmir-related protests conducted in New York, we found a flyer posted by Kashmir Mission USA women’s wing, inviting people to participate in a protest in support of Kashmir on September 27, 2019, at E47th Street between UN Plaza and 2nd Avenue, New York.
According to an article published on medium.com, on September 27, 2019, a protest was organized against Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist government with a demand to end the occupation of Kashmir and in support of for the right to Kashmiri self-determination.
Hence, the video of an old protest that happened in 2019 is being shared out of context relating it to Modi’s recent visit to the USA. The claim is misleading.
Update: Conclusion was mistakenly published as False instead of Misleading in claim review.
