This photo crediting PM Modi for the Mirabai Chanu’s Olympic medal is a morphed one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 2, 2021
A photo of the banner from the Indian Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu’s felicitation ceremony is being shared on social media claiming that the Government of India had credited PM Narendra Modi for the Olympic medal. The text on the banner reads, “धन्यवाद मोदी जी मीराबाई चानू को मेडल दिलाने के लिए” (English translation: “Thank you Modi Ji for getting a medal to Mirabai Chanu”). Indian Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu had recently bagged a silver medal in the Women’s 49 kg weightlifting category in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics 2020.  Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: A banner displayed at Mirabai Chanu’s felicitation ceremony credited the Olympic medal to PM Modi.
Fact: Photo of the banner shared in the post is a morphed one. The text crediting PM Modi for Mirabai Chanu’s Olympic medal was not visible on the original banner displayed at the felicitation ceremony of Mirabai Chanu. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On searching for the photo using the appropriate keywords, a similar photo was found in a ‘PIB’ press release on 27 July 2021.  ‘PIB’ reported that Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and other Union Ministers had felicitated Saikhom Mirabai Chanu after she returned to India with the silver medal at Tokyo Olympics 2020. But the text crediting PM Modi for Mirabai Chanu’s Olympic medal was not visible on the original banner photo published in the ‘PIB’ press release.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted the same photo from his Twitter handle. The banner visible in this photo has no text crediting PM Modi for the Olympic medal.
Several news websites have published videos reporting Mirabai Chanu’s felicitation ceremony. They can be seen here and here. It is nowhere reported that the Government of India had credited Mirabai Chanu’s Olympic medal to PM Narendra Modi.
Earlier, when a morphed photo of the ‘Aaj Tak’ bulletin was shared with a similar claim, FACTLY published a fact-check article. It can be read here.
To sum it up, this banner picture crediting PM Modi for Mirabai Chanu Olympic medal is a morphed one.