In light of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent state visit to the US, social media is abuzz with numerous videos and posts attributing them to the recent visit in June 2023. One such social media post claims that ‘Foreign Minister Dr. Jaishankar cancelled meeting with US lawmakers after they refused to remove Anti-India and Hindu phobic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal from the meeting delegation’. Additionally, a collection of videos depicting protesters carrying effigies of Modi with shoes, while another video captures members in the audience hurling insults as Modi engages with delegates on stage, are also being shared attributing them to the recent visit. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals from the recent 2023 state visit of PM Narendra Modi to the USA.
Fact: None of these visuals are related to PM Modi’s recent visit (June 2023) to the US. All these are old visuals from Modi’s earlier US visits during Trump’s Presidential period. Even the news of EAM Jai Shankar cancelling a meeting is also old that dates back to 2019. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
While it is true that India’s External Affairs Minister Jai Shankar cancelled a meeting due to Congresswoman Parimala Jayapal’s inclusion in the delegation, it is worth noting that this incident occurred in December 2019, and not in 2023.
A keyword search yielded multiple news articles that reported the news. As per these articles, EAM S Jaishankar canceled a meeting with US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal over her report on Kashmir.
As reported by ANI ‘External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that he has no interest in meeting Pramila Jayapal, an Indian- origin US lawmaker who labeled a bipartisan resolution in the House of Representatives calling for an end to the restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir.’ Other news articles which covered the news back then can be read here and here.
Parimala Jayapal responded to the cancellation, and taking to Twitter said ‘The cancellation of this meeting was deeply disturbing. It only furthers the idea that the Indian government isn’t willing to listen to any dissent at all.’
These are also old visuals that date back to 2019. A reverse image search of the viral visuals yielded some social media posts and YouTube videos carrying similar visuals. These posts were shared back in 2019 (here, here & here).
In September 2019, Modi made appearances at two notable gatherings in the United States. The first event was the Howdy Modi gathering held in Houston, while the second was his participation in a session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Both occasions witnessed protests against Modi, and it is highly probable that the viral video in question is linked to one of these protests. Given that the video has been available on the internet since 2019, it is evident that the visuals are not connected to Modi’s recent 2023 visit.
This is an old video that dates back to September 2019 when Modi visited the US for the Howdy Modi event. A keyword search yielded similar videos shared on social media platforms back in 2021 (here & here).
However, in this video, the crowd can also be heard raising ‘Bharat Mata Ki jai’ & ‘Vande Mataram’ slogans. A further search yielded full footage of the event, wherein Modi can be seen wearing the same outfit and greeting the delegates.
As per the description, the visuals are related to the ‘Howdy Modi’ event organized in Houston in September 2019. Thus, the availability of the visuals on the internet ascertains that these visuals are not related to Modi’s recent visit.
To sum it up, old visuals related to Modi’s earlier visits to the US are being falsely shared as those from his 2023 state visit to the USA.
