Recently, we came across a video where a crowd was seen protesting against PM Modi on the streets. They were spotted with Modi’s effigy with a garland of shoes and slogan ‘Face of Indian Terrorism’ written on it. Users are claiming that this is a recent video where PM Modi is being insulted but Indian media are reporting that he is being praised all over the world.
However, Fact Crescendo found that this is an old video of PM Modi when he visited the US in 2019.
Claim:
Sharing the video, a social media user wrote, “All the nations of the world are protesting against Modi but the biased Indian media is saying he is being praised everywhere.”
Check the archive version of the post.
Investigation:
A Google Reverse Image Search on a keyframe led us to the same video tweeted by Gujarat INC Chairman Hitendra Pithadiya on 23 June 2023. Below you can see the tweet.
Apart from this, we also found a tweet with the same video uploaded by a user in 2019. This tweet mocked PM Modi saying’ “He is gaining a lot of fame in a foreign land.”
Thus, it is clear that this is not a recent video but an old one.
Upon searching about the incident of the anti-Modi protest in the US in 2019, we came across a report published on a website on 20 September 2019. According to the report (Archive), Kashmiris in the diaspora, South Asian allies, faith leaders, and solidarity groups gathered outside United Nations Headquarters on the day PM Modi addressed the 74th session of the UN General Assembly.
This protest was organized against Narendra Modi and the right-wing Hindu nationalist government. The demand of the protest was to end the occupation of Kashmir and for the right to Kashmiri self-determination. This protest was held at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on East 47th Street in New York.
Further, we saw in the video that the protest was held at E 47 Street. So taking the clue from the above information, we search for Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on 47 Street in New York on Google Maps.
Below you can see the same building that was under construction in 2019 when the protest was held and the image from Google Maps from 2022 after the construction was over.
Conclusion: Fact Crescendo found that the viral video is not a recent one. The video of the protest was during Modi’s visit to the US in 2019. An old video of the anti-Modi protest from the US was shared without proper context.
(This story was originally published by factcrescendo, and republished by Lighthouse Journalism as a part of the Shakti Collective)
