Unrelated old videos shared as visuals of PM Modi announcing different freebies to people - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 17, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally recently, made an announcement of giving Rs. 15 lakhs to every citizen in the country. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of PM Modi making an announcement of crediting Rs 15 lakhs to every citizen’s bank account in the country.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows PM Modi’s speech after inaugurating the Bundelkhand Expressway in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district in July 2022. While addressing this rally in the Jalaun district, Narendra Modi did not make any announcement about crediting Rs 15 lakhs to every citizen in the country. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to check whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing any recent rally, made any announcement of crediting Rs 15 lakhs to every citizen’s bank account, we could not find any such reports confirming this information.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video showing similar visuals was found published by the ‘Doordarshan National’ YouTube channel on 16 July 2022. The Doordarshan channel published this video with the title, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi Inaugurates Bundelkhand Expressway, at Jalaun in Uttar Pradesh.” While addressing a public meeting after the inauguration of the Bundelkhand Expressway, PM Modi praised the development of Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath’s government and accused previous governments of not providing good infrastructure and law and order in the state. During his speech, PM Modi did not make any promise of giving Rs. 15 lakhs to every citizen in the country.
Speaking about bringing black money back to India during the 2014 General Elections campaign, Narendra Modi at a rally in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker said, “If even once, the money hoarded by these crooks in banks abroad, even if we bring only that back, every poor Indian would get free of cost Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakhs, just like that. There’s so much money.” Speaking during an interview in 2015, Amit Shah said, “Modiji’s statement was an idiomatic expression (jumla) that was given during the Lok Sabha polls. Everybody knows that this black money doesn’t go to accounts of people. The black money that would return to the country from abroad will be used to help the poor and the needy, Modiji said that.”
To sum it up, PM Modi recently did not make any announcement of giving Rs. 15 lakhs to every citizen in the country.
Update (19 December 2022):
The same video is being also shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi making an announcement on reducing petrol prices and distributing a house to every citizen in the country. They can be seen here and here. But, during his speech at the Bundelkhand Expressway inauguration in July 2022, PM Modi did not make any announcement on reducing petrol prices or about giving a house to every citizen in the country. During his speech, PM Modi indeed criticised the ‘freebies culture’ that he alleged is practised by a few opposition parties to lure voters. PM Modi during his speech called ‘freebie culture’ the biggest threat to the nation and warned people to be aware of freebies offered by political parties.
Another video is being shared on social media claiming that PM Narendra Modi while addressing the recent Lok Sabha session, made an announcement of distributing Rs. 10 lakhs to every citizen in the country. The same video is also shared with the description- ‘नरेंद्र मोदी ने अचानक शाहरुख खान को गिरफ्तार करने का ऐलान कर दिया’ (English translation: Narendra Modi suddenly announced to arrest Shahrukh Khan). But, the video shared in the post shows PM Modi’s speech at the Lok Sabha on 07 February 2017. While speaking during the motion of thanks on the President’s address on 07 February 2017, PM Modi criticised Congress Party and their leader Rahul Gandhi. But, PM Modi during his speech on 07 February 2017, did not make any announcement of crediting Rs. 10 Lakhs to every citizen in the country. If PM Modi has announced such a freebie, several news websites would have reported the same. But we could not find a single news report confirming this.
To sum it up, unrelated old videos of PM Narendra Modi are being shared now as visuals of him announcing freebies to every citizen in the country.
Update (27 December 2022):
Another video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing good news to people amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in the country. Narendra Modi in the video was seen addressing people about Janata Curfew, combating the COVID-19 pandemic, and expressing gratitude to frontline workers by clapping and ringing bells. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of PM Narendra Modi announcing a good news.
Fact: The post shared a video clipping from PM Modi’s address to people on 19 March 2020. Amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in March 2020, PM Modi urged citizens to follow the Janata Curfew from 7 am to 9 pm and requested people to thank frontline workers by clapping and ringing bells for five minutes on 22 March 2020. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals was found published on the BJP’s official YouTube channel, with the title, “PM Shri Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on COVID-19”, on 19 March 2020. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) published a copy of this address made on 19 March 2020, on combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in March 2020, Narendra Modi urged citizens to follow the Janata Curfew from 7 am to 9 pm and requested people to thank frontline workers by clapping and ringing bells for five minutes on 22 March 2020. The video is almost two years old and does not show Modi’s latest address to people.