A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that while responding to an Indian journalist’s question about returning back Kohinoor diamond to India, Britain’s Prime Minister Rushi Sunak had said, “Kohinoor is already present in Delhi for the last eight years at the 7, Lok Kalyan Marg”. 7, Lok Kalyan Marg is the official residential address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This post claims that Rishi Sunak had praised PM Modi by comparing him to Kohinoor. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kohinoor diamond.
Fact: Rishi Sunak, after being elected as the Prime Minister of Britain, did not make any such comments about PM Modi and Kohinoor diamond. Rishi Sunak, during his first telephonic conversation with Narendra Modi on 27 October 2022, praised Modi’s leadership in tackling climate change. But Rishi Sunak did not compare PM Modi to Kohinoor in any of his press briefings or during his telephone conversation with Modi. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched on the internet to check whether Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had made any such comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi while responding to any Indian journalist’s question about returning back the Kohinoor diamond to India, we could not find any news reports confirming this. The official website of the UK Government did not publish any press release stating that Rishi Sunak had praised PM Modi by comparing him to Kohinoor diamond.
Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Rishi Sunak on 27 October 2022 and congratulated him on his recent appointment as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Rishi Sunak through a tweet on the same day thanked Modi for his wishes and said, “The UK and India share so much. I’m excited about what our two great democracies can achieve as we deepen our security, defence and economic partnership in the months & years ahead.” Rishi Sunak did not make any other tweet about Narendra Modi on his official Twitter handle.
The Britain Prime Minister’s Office released a press statement briefing about the telephonic conversation between Rishi Sunak and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The press statement noted that Rishi Sunak while discussing shared global challenges, praised Narendra Modi’s leadership in tackling climate change. However, it did not report about Rishi Sunak comparing PM Modi to Kohinoor during the telephonic conversation or any other press briefing.
To sum it up, Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not praise PM Modi by comparing him to Kohinoor diamond.
