By: Rahul Adhikari
June 28 2023
Morphed image shared claiming Modi wore a skull cap in Egypt
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The viral image was originally captured in Mumbai and has been altered to support the false claim. It did not show Modi wearing the skull cap.
Claim ID 8ab8ec2a
Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Cairo on June 6, becoming the first Indian prime minister to pay a state visit to Egypt in over two decades. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi conferred upon him Egypt's highest honor. During the two-day visit, Modi also toured the renowned pyramids of Giza and the historic Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo.
A post has been circulating on social media claiming that Modi refused to wear an Islamic skull cap in India but wore one in Egypt. The posts compare two pictures, one where Modi is seen wearing a skull cap and another where he is refusing the cap, suggesting a contrast in his actions. The caption of one such post read, "Is this picture real? Why would Modi who rudely refused to wear an offered skull cap in India, wear one in Egypt?" The post has garnered over 200k views and 1479 likes.
However, the claim is false. A photo from Modi's visit to an Arabic academy in Mumbai was altered and falsely shared.
In Fact
A reverse image search revealed that the first picture of Modi in a skull cap has been fabricated. We found that the original image, shared by Modi on Twitter shows him without the Islamic religious cap. The image was captured during Modi's inauguration of the new campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, an Arabic academy dedicated to Islamic learning in Mumbai. He shared a few photos of the ceremony on Twitter on February 10.
According to an AIR News report, Modi was accompanied by His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, the head of the Dawoodi Bohra community. The original version of the viral photo was also included in the report. The Times of India also published a report on the inauguration ceremony that has the same photo of Modi without a skull cap.
The second image showing Modi refusing a skull cap was featured in an NDTV news article dated September 19, 2011. The image was captured during Modi's three-day fast, held while he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The fast was part of the 'Sadbhavana Mission' aimed at promoting peace, unity, and harmony. During the fast, a local Muslim cleric named Sayed Imam Shahi Saiyed approached the stage and offered Modi a skull cap. According to the NDTV report, Modi politely declined the cap and asked him to offer a shawl instead.
An image captured in Mumbai in February 2023 was fabricated to create a misleading comparison between Modi's Cairo visit and an incident where he refused to wear a skull cap in 2011. Modi did not wear a skull cap in either of the incidents mentioned in the viral post.
The Verdict
An altered image was falsely shared, claiming that Modi accepted an Islamic skull cap in Egypt. The viral image is unrelated to Modi's Egypt visit. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.