Old photo of ‘Go Back Modi’ slogan on a Kolkata street shared as that from Tamil Nadu - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 15, 2021
A photo of ‘Go Back Modi’ slogan painted on a street road is being shared on social media claiming it as the anti-Modi graffiti displayed on a street in Tamil Nadu. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim:  Photo of a Tamil Nadu street with ‘Go Back Modi’ slogan painted on the road.
Fact: The anti-Modi graffiti shared in the photo is related to a protest against the CAA and NRC in Kolkata. This protest was held amid PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Kolkata in January 2020. This photo has nothing to do with Tamil Nadu. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, we found a similar photo in a tweet made by Kolkata-based Journalist Mayukh Ranjan Ghosh on 11 January 2020. Mayukh Ranjan Ghosh reported it as an image from Esplanade, the busiest street in Kolkata.
This is one of the busiest roads in Kolkata. #Esplanade. Lakhs and lakhs of people commute, jam packed traffic r seen. Just look at this place tonight. Roads turned into graffitis, no traffic, all roads blocked, students protesting overnight.
This is #Kolkata #modiinkolkata pic.twitter.com/jDaf6vufXi
Further search led us to news articles dated January 2020 which carried a similar photo but from another angle. According to these articles, the photo is of a protest against CAA and NRC in Kolkata. These articles can be read here and here.
Also, in a better version of the photo shared by the journalist, the sign ‘METRO CHANNEL CONTROL POST, ARE STREET POLICE STATION’ is visible on a building besides the road. Taking a cue from here, a search on Google maps with relevant keywords led us to the location which is indeed in Kolkata. With all this, we can conclude that the image is related to protest in Kolkata against CAA and NRC and has nothing to do with Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, when the same photo falsely linked to the Bihar Assembly elections, FACTLY published a fact-check article on it. It can be seen here.
To sum it up, an old photo of ‘Go Back Modi’ slogan painted on Kolkata streets shared as the anti-Modi graffiti in Tamil Nadu.