By: Umme Kulsum
March 17 2023
False: Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss called India 'a nation that naively follows illiterate leaders and spiritual gurus.'
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The image of Liz Truss used for the post is from her resignation speech in 2022. Truss has not made any comments about India or its political figures.
Claim ID eeb266b5
Context
An image of former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, accompanied by a statement written in Hindi and attributed to her, has been circulating on social media since early March 2023. The translated statement reads, "India is a nation that naively follows illiterate leaders and spiritual gurus." The image was originally shared by Twitter account "Bolta Hindustan" in October 2022. A Congress leader from Punjab also tweeted the picture with the caption,"Is this sarcasm or appreciation?"
The former British prime minister has made no such statement mocking Indian political leaders. In addition, the picture of Truss used in the graphic is from her resignation announcement in October 2022, where she did not mention anything about India or Indian political leaders.
In Fact
In October 2022, Truss announced her resignation as prime minister of the United Kingdom after serving for only 45 days. In her two-minute resignation address, she did not mention anything about India or its leaders.
Logically found the original image with the same picture of Truss from October 2022 overlaid with Hindi, which, when translated, read, "I resigned because I was unable to keep the commitments I made when I first took office." Truss made this comment while giving her resignation speech.
During Truss' brief tenure as Prime Minister of the U.K, India and the United Kingdom declared their intent to begin talks on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In September 2022, while delivering a speech at the 77th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters, Truss mentioned deepening links between India, Israel, Indonesia, and South Africa.
Upon analyzing both images, it's clear that the text from the first image has been changed to provide a different narrative. Truss has publicly advocated for deeper India-U.K. strategic and economic ties. At the ABP Ideas of India summit on February 24, 2023, Truss said she supported a more significant role for India as a key global player and that India should become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
The Verdict
There is no evidence that Truss made negative remarks against India or its political figures. An image was altered to fit a specific narrative, thus we have marked this claim as false.