By: Ishita Goel
June 23 2023
Video of people hitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effigy is from U.K., not U.S.
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The video is from the U.K. and reportedly shows a protest organized in solidarity with Indian farmers in 2020.
Claim ID 27aab643
Context
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently on his first State-visit to the United States of America (USA). Modi arrived in the US on June 21, 2023, at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Since then, there has been news coverage about the Indian diaspora welcoming him in the US.
Amid this, a video is being shared on social media which shows a group of people hitting Modi’s effigy with shoes and slippers. The post claims that the video is from the US and linked to Modi’s visit.
However, we found that this video is from the U.K. and reportedly shows a protest in solidarity with the Indian farmers, who were protesting against the three contentious Indian farm laws (now-repealed) in 2020.
In Fact
On conducting a reverse image search, we found that the video is from 2020. A U.K.-based portal, I Am Birmingham, published an article on December 12, 2020, and carried a screenshot from this video. The report mentioned that thousands of British Sikhs gathered outside the Indian consulate in Jewellery Quarters to support the India farmers, who were protesting against the three farm laws (now-repealed).
We also found a slightly zoomed our version of this video on a Facebook page called ‘Transparency JK.’ This video, too, was posted in December 2020.
Taking a cue from these two sources, we located the place on Google Maps. We were able to ascertain that it was 18 Warstone Ln, Birmingham, England, near the Indian consulate situated in the Jewellery Quarter. We could match the buildings and other elements to prove that location was indeed U.K. and not U.S.
We have not been able to independently confirm the context of this video but the fact that it is was uploaded in 2020 makes it clear that it is old. Further, Google Street View confirms the location.
We have fact-checked several other old and unrelated images that have been linked to Modi’s US visit. You can read them here.
The Verdict
The video of people hitting Modi's effigy is old and is from the United Kingdom. It's not linked to the Indian prime minister's State-visit to the U.S.