Old Photo of PM Modi having a vegetarian dinner in UAE is falsely shared as him eating Beef - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 11, 2021
A post with an image of PM Narendra Modi sitting at a dinner table is being widely shared on social media claiming that he was having beef. The post even claims that there was Biryani and Kebab. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of PM Narendra Modi eating beef.
Fact: In the photo, PM Modi and others were having a vegetarian meal prepared by Indian Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. Narendra Modi was hosted a high-level dinner by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIDA) when he was on an official state visit to the UAE in 2015. There are no news articles which mention about Modi having eaten beef or any non-vegetarian food. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the photo, a tweet with the same image was found. The tweet was made on 16 August 2015 by the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. The photo was taken when PM Modi was hosted for a high-level dinner by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIDA). According to an article, Sanjeev Kapoor (a famous Indian Chef) was ‘especially flown to Abu Dhabi to cook a special vegetarian meal for Modi, who is a strict vegetarian’, for this dinner.
In this dinner, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor prepared ‘Royal Gujarati Thali’ for Modi, which was vegetarian. In fact, there were other dignitaries who were sitting at the table including Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and none of them touched meat. According to an article, all of them stuck ‘to the vegetarian meal as a mark of respect for Modi’s culinary preference’.
The menu for that night’s dinner can be seen in a tweet that was posted by Sanjeev Kapoor on his Twitter handle. There is no mention of Beef in the menu posted by him.
Menu for tonights dinner in honor of Shri @narendramodi Ji.#UAE #IndianCuisine #BestOfIndia pic.twitter.com/YvCdp6O9Vh
Narendra Modi made an official state visit to the UAE in 2015; he was the first Indian Prime Minister to do so in 34 years after Indira Gandhi. There are no news articles which mention Modi having eaten beef or any non-vegetarian food during this visit.
To sum it up, the 2015 photo of PM Modi having a vegetarian dinner in UAE is falsely shared as him having Beef.